Morning Open Thread - Wednesday August 12, 2015

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 7:00am

Good Morning, 99%'ers! Today is the second day of our roofing experience. Yesterday, before the roofers left, they asked if it would be okay if they came at 6:30 am today. I am sure they wanted to get ahead of the heat as it was obvious the heat was a factor for them yesterday. But that also means that they will be here before daylight. So we will all be waiting for the sunrise tomorrow morning.

When I was a small child, I can remember my parents playing the radio in the mornings while my father got ready for work. This song is one that sticks out in my mind. It seemed like I heard it nearly every day, but maybe that was not really the case. Perhaps it was that it was a song that simply stuck in my mind as a small child and it is still one I recall today. And so here it is, "The World is Waiting for the Sunrise" by Les Paul and Mary Ford.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iGXP_UBog4]

Les Paul was an extraordinary guitarist whose career spanned various genres from country to jazz. He was always thinking of new ways to make music differently and more interesting, and to get the sounds that he wanted. He was constantly innovating which led to his invention of the solid body guitar in 1941.

In 1941 the perfectionist in Paul believed he could improve upon the common amplified guitar. To do so he attached strings and two pickups to what was essentially a wooden board with a guitar neck. Paul called it the "the log," and while it drew some early criticism, mainly for its look, it produced just the kind of sound its creator had been looking for.

In addition, Les Paul was experimenting with audio engineering, thus creating the multi-track format for recording. This allowed his wife, Mary Ford, to sing both the lead and harmony vocals on records such as "The World is Waiting for the Sunrise."

Paul experimented with a number of different recording techniques. His breakthrough came in 1948 with a recording of the song "Lover," which utilized a variety of tracks. It wasn't long before Paul was creating 24-track recordings and producing hits like "How High the Moon" and "The World Is Waiting for Sunrise."

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6VHlqH4-xs]

Les Paul was not only a great guitarist, but also an inventor. He lived to be 95 and by all accounts, his mind was as sharp as ever until his death at the age of 95 in 2009. Among his many awards and achievements were induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Inventor's Hall of Fame, the only musician or inventor to be so honored by both bodies.

In 1985, Paul was inducted into the Hollywood Rock Wall.

In 1988, Paul was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Jeff Beck, who said, "I've copied more licks from Les Paul than I'd like to admit." That same year, the Mix Foundation, now known as the TEC Foundation, inducted Paul into the TEC Hall of Fame. In 1991, the foundation established its annual Les Paul Award which honors "individuals or institutions that have set the highest standards of excellence in the creative application of audio technology". The award, now known as the Les Paul TEC Award, is presented annually at the NAMM Show

In 1990, Paul was inducted into the Big Band Hall of Fame and the Jazz Hall of Fame. In 1996, the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame inducted Paul. That same year Paul received the James Smithsonian Bicentennial Medal. In 2004, Paul received an Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in Engineering.The Wisconsin Foundation for School Music bestowed its Lifetime Achievement in Music Education on Paul that same year.

In 2005, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his development of the solid-body electric guitar. He was named an honorary member of the Audio Engineering Society in 1958. In 2007, he received the National Medal of Arts from U.S. President George W. Bush.

What an extraordinary life Les Paul had! We should all be so fortunate to live a long time doing what we truly enjoy in life like Les Paul did.

Here is an interview with Les Paul shortly before he died. He was still playing in small clubs and was still awesome. I could not find the Youtube link for this one, so click on the link. You will not be disappointed.

http://www.nytimes.com/video/obituaries/1247463983106/last-word-les-paul...

One last video for your listening enjoyment.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJaNMZmBR6E]

This is an open thread so feel free to post whatever you wish.

Tags:

Morning Open Thread

Les Paul

Mary Ford

Vote

Comments

Submitted by hecate on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 9:19am

good morning, gulfgal

I am enjoying the roofer saga. Is your husband back up there yet? ; ) Also, does he otherwise like to climb things, get up high, or is it just a roof fascination? ; )

My brother in his construction career endeavored to ease out of roofing early. He said the money was good, but it's really bad on the knees.

I had a guitarist friend who would recurrently travel to NYC to hang out and play with Les Paul. Besides all the things you mention, he was also apparently a really good person.

My father's morning music was news radio. Back when there was news. Rather than senseless screaming about Muslim presidents and Mexican rapists.

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 9:34am

Good Morning, hecate!

Yes, my husband likes building stuff. His profession is white collar, but his real love is running saws and stuff. And yes, he was up on the roof all day yesterday and again this morning. The first guy got here at 6:29 am. and the rest soon after. The crew seems to be okay with him up there. The supervisor has not yet asked him to get off, so I guess he is good as long as he does not get in the way. He is like a little kid right now.

That is so cool about your guitarist friend. Based upon that one link in which he was interviewed, it seems as though Les Paul was still playing small clubs up to his death. Now that is the way to go.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

Submitted by hecate on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 10:03am

yes,

my friend would see Paul in those clubs, and sometimes play with him. The latter he considered the honor of his life.

Maybe your husband is meant to make a career change. Become a builder guy. ; )

Will your roofing experience include a tar truck? I got stuck next to one at a red light the other day and thereby experienced a preview of Hell. There is no stench quite like that one. When I got back home I went to the tubes to try to determine why those things stink so badly. I didn't find the answer, but I did find a person who claimed to love the reek of both tar trucks and boiling broccoli. I do not know why such people are permitted to run around loose. And here is a Hawaiian fondly remembering "tar burners." Somehow I do not associate Hawaii with the pungent odor of burning, bubbling asphalt.

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 10:19am

I understand Les Paul was generous with other players

Fabled guitarist Jeff Beck once said that he stole most of his licks from Les Paul. Apparently the admiration was mutual too as Les Paul said Jeff Beck was his favorite guitarist.

As for roofing tar, I don't think they do that at all anymore. The last time we had a house re-roofed, there was no tar involved. Here is what I know with my very limited knowledge. There is a heavy underlayment, and then the shingles are applied (via heavy staples) over that. The shingles have a self sealing strip on them from what I understand. The heat from the sun on the roof makes the strip seal itself.

I have told my husband he should get a job at a building supply store when he retires. I think he would be very good at that.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

Submitted by gjohnsit on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 10:24am

Turkey almost bombs U.S. forces in Iraq

Gotta get them Kurds

With only 10 minutes notice to their American partners, Turkey launched a massive air strike of its own July 24 against a Kurdish militant group in the northern mountains of Iraq. The U.S. had barely enough warning to make sure its own forces were out of the way, according to a military source with knowledge of the tension Turkey's attack caused in the Combined Air and Space Operations Center, the allied headquarters in the air war against ISIS.
"A Turkish officer came into the CAOC, and announced that the strike would begin in 10 minutes and he needed all allied jets flying above Iraq to move south of Mosul immediately,” said the military source, describing events that took place in the center, in a secret location in the Middle East. "We were outraged."
“We had U.S. Special Forces not far from where the Turks were bombing, training Kurdish Peshmerga fighters," the source said. "We had no idea who the Turkish fighters were, their call signs, what frequencies they were using, their altitude or what they were squawking [to identify the jets on radar].”

Submitted by hecate on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 10:44am

back in the day,

when you were a Turk, and you were a male, you did not get a name, until you'd cut somebody's head off in battle.

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 10:45am

Good Morning gjohnsit!

The insanity that is going on in the Middle east is not going to end well. I thought the purpose of involving Turkey was to fight ISIS, not the Kurds. The blood is on American hands because we started the wars that have led to the gross instability in the region.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

Submitted by mimi on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 10:36am

Good Morning, gulfgal98, that's such a sweet

memorial to Les Paul and Mary Ford. I could imagine that one of my passed away uncles, who loved the golden girls, would have loved those songs.
And I like the way you talk about your husband's climbing and construction adventures. Sounds so real to earth.

I have distracted myself with reading and listening a lot to videos linked at the other side, now I am going to scan a little bit of German press and then finally I hope to be ready to continue "downsizing and cleaning out stuff". I woke up with some serious depressive thoughts and I have to realize that reading here and there is the only way to distract myself from them. It seems to work, temporarily at least.

Have a wonderful day, all.

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 10:43am

Good Morning mimi!

I hope you are successful with your cleaning out and downsizing. It is something I fantacise about but am not very successful in doing it. I hope that your spirits improve as the day goes on. It is absolutely gorgeous here today!

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

Submitted by Big Al on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 11:22am

It's funny. Jimmy Carter goes on record saying the U.S.

is an oligarchy. Then Donald Trump goes on TV and tells everybody that U.S. politicians are bought and paid for.
But the election process doesn't miss a beat. The show goes on, the media simply ignores the reality and everyone
forgets about it. It's like everyone just acknowledges it, it's something everybody already knows so we just go on
with life. It's just the way it is, the way it's always been and always will be.
But then half or more of the people end up pretending it's not true by casting their votes again and again, for an oligarchy,
for politicians that are bought and paid for.
We all know it but we don't know what to do about it so we ignore it.

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 11:28am

Good Day Al

Yep, everyone says it, but those who can do something about it legislatively do not want to shut off the golden spigot. I do not think the people are ignoring it so much as they feel powerless.

I hope you are having a good day.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

Submitted by Big Al on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 11:43am

Thanks gulfgal. Another great day to be alive.

I turned 60 last week so it's kind of a marker for things. Makes me more determined to get the most out of
each day.

I saw that Lawrence Lessig might throw his hat in the ring.

"Harvard professor and outspoken political activist Lawrence Lessig is now exploring a bid for the White House. In a Tuesday announcement, Lessig told reporters that he’s prepared to take on Democratic presidential hopefuls by making campaign finance reform his core platform. Instead of relying on wealthy donors, however, he is crowdfunding his campaign online, and will officially run if he raises $1 million by Labor Day. His hope is to dismantle corruption in Washington by making citizen equality the central pillar of his presidency."

http://www.globalresearch.ca/harvard-professor-to-run-for-president-dism...

It's going to take a lot more than campaign finance reform and overturning Citizen's United. I remember years ago, well before
C.U., I saw a sample monthly calendar of a U.S. Congress person. It showed fundraising activities and meetings on 23 out of the 30
days. That was before C.U. C.U. just opened up the flood gates but the problem was there long before that.

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 12:10pm

Happy (belated) Birthday, Al!!!!!!!

You are still a mere youngster, even perhaps a babe in the woods. But I like your attitude. Live each day to the fullest.

The entire system is corrupt, but particularly our campaign financing. You are right that Citizens United just opened the flood gates, but the corruption has always been there, either in the form of the revolving door or the idea that our elected officials spend an inordinate amount of time fundraising.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

Submitted by joe shikspack on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 4:05pm

heh, it's like the weather...

everybody complains about it, but nobody does anything about it.

Submitted by Big Al on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 11:59am

The BlackLivesMatter movement.

"They". It's kind of weird having to say they. It's like we all should be a part of it in some way. When I say "they" does
it mean BlackLives Don't Matter to me because I'm not part of BlackLivesMatter?

Anyway, they indicate it's an emergency. I can understand that and agree with it. And they're targeting anyone that participates
and supports the systems that have contributed to the emergency. It's what I've been saying about U.S. imperialism. Regardless
what some in BLM might think, U.S. imperialism is the most racist element on earth, it has been since before the official inception
of this country. U.S. imperialism has caused and is causing genocides in Africa. U.S. imperialism has contributed greatly to the misery
the continent of Africa and it's people have experienced over the last 300 years.
People are dying daily from U.S. imperialism, that is also an emergency. BLM is not the only emergency being caused by white
supremacy. In fact, it could be said that stopping U.S. imperialism is more important that focusing on police brutality and killings against
blacks because police brutality and killings are a direct extension of racist U.S. imperialism.
BLM can't go forward in this 2016 election season as the primary issue against the ruling class. Their grievances won't get resolved
that way without also taking down U.S. imperialism and Rule by the Rich which has kept them down for centuries.
People forget how the imperialist War OF Terror is contributing to the Police State.

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 12:15pm

Excellent Points, especially about

the relationship between imperialism and racism. I would say that our economic system contributes heavily to the systemic racism in this country.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

Submitted by MarilynW on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 1:33pm

BLM could be more successful

imo if they broadened their issues. Their issue seems to be confined to criminal injustice/police brutality and murder as it applies to black people. The broad situation of blacks in the USA is one of economics: poverty, job opportunities, income inequality. The spokes people for the movement seem to want to stay on the one track and it's an important issue, one of life and death. But poverty is also a matter of life and death.

I can't accept the label of white privilege, I think 5 years in an orphanage disqualifies me as a privileged person. In my case I faced the bigotry and inequality caused by poverty. Anyway, as a Canadian, I keep out of this debate on DKos.

—

To thine own self be true.

Submitted by Big Al on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 2:06pm

True, but seems they have broadened it all the way to

the overall inherent institutional and cultural racism in this country, at least some of BLM. Which is understandable because when
you get down to the brass tacks of it, that's what it's about, not just the cops killing blacks. Institutional racism is the long term
cause of poverty, unemployment, and black on black killings. I'm not sure if their message is coherent at this point, I see
a lot of questioning about what they want. Like about everything else now, they might as well go all the way.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 2:58pm

The problem is a lot larger than just racism

The article I posted yesterday by Jesse Jackson got me thinking.
Almost the entire reason that BLM and its followers have decided that police killings is an issue of racism first and foremost is because blacks are being killed in this country by cops at a greater rate than white are being killed by cops. Around a 2:1 rate.
Around twice as many whites are being killed by cops than blacks, but the rate becomes the dominant feature of the debate.

Now let's say that suddenly that problem is "fixed" and that blacks are "only" being killed at the same rate as whites are.
Does BLM no longer have a reason to exist? Mission accomplished? Wrong.

Let’s look at our immediate neighbors to the north, Canada. The total number of citizens killed by law enforcement officers in the year 2014, was 14; that is 78 times less people than the US.
If we look at the United Kingdom, 1 person was killed by police in 2014 and 0 in 2013. English police reportedly fired guns a total of three times in all of 2013, with zero reported fatalities.

From 2010 through 2014, there were four fatal police shootings in England, which has a population of about 52 million. By contrast, Albuquerque, N.M., with a population 1 percent the size of England’s, had 26 fatal police shootings in that same time period.

China, whose population is 4 and 1/2 times the size of the United States, recorded 12 killings by law enforcement officers in 2014.
Let that sink in. Law enforcement in the US killed 92 times more people than a country with nearly 1.4 billion people.

It doesn’t stop there.

From 2013-2014, German police killed absolutely no one.

In the entire history of Iceland police, they have only killed 1 person ever.

All that would happen if blacks were "only" being killed in this country as the same rate as whites is that blacks would still be getting killed at around 50 times the rate as anyone else in a first world country.
In other words, the problem would only be "fixed" on a selective relative scale, nothing more.
And as long as people approach this as an issue of only racism and nothing else, then nothing of consequence will be fixed.

Submitted by MarilynW on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 2:57pm

another related issue rises its ugly head: GUNS

Decent logical gun control has got to happen in the USA, the most armed country on earth.

—

To thine own self be true.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 2:59pm

I was thinking of militarization of police

(that largely forgotten issue) and its relationship to the Forever War on some Terror.

Plus, I also posted an article how police killings have a LOT more to do with class bias than race.

Submitted by MarilynW on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 3:17pm

Saw a headline recently about Ferguson police

giving back their military equipment.

"a lot more to do with class bias than race." Well yes, how many rich blacks have been stopped for minor traffic offenses and then ended up in handcuffs?

—

To thine own self be true.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 3:32pm

the article I posted yesterday

shows that people who live in poor neighborhoods get shot by cops at four times the rate as people who live in rich neighborhoods.
The black/white ratio is "only" twice the rate.

So wealth is twice the indicator as skin color when it comes to getting shot by a cop.

Submitted by hecate on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 4:16pm

many

Try this. And this. And then there's this fellow:

It was an otherwise ordinary snow day in Hartford, Connecticut, and I was laughing as I headed outside to shovel my driveway. I’d spent the morning scrambling around, trying to stay ahead of my three children’s rising housebound energy, and once my shovel hit the snow, I thought about how my wife had been urging me to buy a snowblower. I hadn’t felt an urgent need. Whenever it got ridiculously blizzard-like, I hired a snow removal service. And on many occasions, I came outside to find that our next door neighbor had already cleared my driveway for me.

Never mind that our neighbor was an empty-nester in his late 60s with a replaced hip, and I was a former professional ballplayer in his early 40s. I kept telling myself I had to permanently flip the script and clear his driveway. But not today. I had to focus on making sure we could get our car out for school the next morning. My wife was at a Black History Month event with our older two kids. The snow had finally stopped coming down and this was my mid-afternoon window of opportunity.

Just as I was good-naturedly turning all this over in my mind, my smile disappeared.

A police officer from West Hartford had pulled up across the street, exited his vehicle, and begun walking in my direction. I noted the strangeness of his being in Hartford—an entirely separate town with its own police force—so I thought he needed help. He approached me with purpose, and then, without any introduction or explanation he asked, “So, you trying to make a few extra bucks, shoveling people’s driveways around here?”

[A] police officer from another town had come to my house, approached me while I was shoveling my own driveway, and—without any introduction—asked me a very presumptuous question.

All of this had put me in an extremely vulnerable situation. In one moment, I went from being an ordinary father and husband, carrying out a simple household chore, to a suspect offering a defense. The inquiry had forced me to check my tone, to avoid sounding smug even when I was stating the obvious: that I was shoveling the driveway because the house belonged to me.

Until that moment, skin colors had been little more than adjectives to my kids. Some members of our family have bronze or latte skin; others are caramel-colored or dark brown. Our eldest and “lightest-skinned” daughter had at times matter-of-factly described her brother and me as “brown” and herself as “white.” But that night, my wife made it painfully simple. “We are black,” she explained. “All of us.”

When my mother heard the story of the West Hartford policeman, she responded with wry humor: “You got your come-uppance again.” I knew exactly what she meant. If you are the president, or a retired professional athlete, it can be all too easy to feel protected from everyday indignities. But America doesn’t let any of us deny our connection to the black “everyman.”

Submitted by gjohnsit on Thu, 08/13/2015 - 10:48am

I'm certain that there are lots of anecdotes

A nearly endless amount in fact.
But what do the actual numbers say?

Submitted by hecate on Thu, 08/13/2015 - 11:15am

a

"nearly endless amount" certainly surmounts "actual numbers," doesn't it? ; )

It happens when you're brown, too. No matter how wealthy and connected you are.

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto said he had been the victim of "terrible, terrible violence" after he inadvertently committed the offence of "jaywalking" in Atlanta, Georgia, last week and failed to realise the man telling him to stop was an officer.

The slight, bespectacled professor claimed that five burly officers pinned him to the ground after Kevin Leonpacher kicked his legs from under him as he hesitated to show his ID.

He was left "traumatised and disorientated" and with a gashed forehead as he was taken to the local jail and charged with pedestrian failure to obey a police officer and physical obstruction of police.

He said he was crossing the road and became aware of a "rather intrusive young man shouting at me telling me that I shouldn't have crossed the road there".

Because he was wearing a "rather louche" bomber jacket that covered his uniform, the professor did not realise he was a policeman.

"I thanked him for his advice and went on," said the professor. When Officer Leonpacher tried to stop him and demanded to see identification, the professor asked to see his, which he "didn't take kindly to". "He said 'I am going to arrest you'," Prof Fernandez-Armesto said. "In the culture I come from this wouldn't mean that the conversation was over.

"Nor would it mean that you were about to be subjected to terrible, terrible violence. This young man kicked my legs from under me, wrenched me round in what I think is a sort of a judo move, pinned me to the ground, wrenched my arms behind my back and handcuffed me.

"Naturally I was bridling at this moment and he called his colleagues to his assistance. I had five burly policemen pinioning me to the ground, pressing my neck with really very severe pain. I'm a mass of contusions and grazes.

"I was traumatised, disorientated, my conference programme was in the gutter and I was begging them to give it back to me and to give me my spectacles back," he said. "I still find it incredible that an ageing, mild-mannered professor of impeccable antecedent, should be the subject of such abominable treatment."

The professor, who has written books on the Americas and global exploration, was handcuffed to another suspected criminal in a "filthy, foetid paddy wagon" to be transported to jail and had his fingerprints and mugshot taken. With his bail set at £720 but with no way to get the cash, Prof Fernandez-Armesto remained incarcerated, until he eventually got out with the help of a professional bail agent.

Officer Leonpacher denied that he overreacted, saying the historian repeatedly refused to co-operate. The 28-year-old told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "I used an excessive amount of discretion."

Atlanta's mayor, Shirley Franklin, said: "We want everyone who visits Atlanta to find Atlanta to be friendly and helpful."

The professor said he had no plans to sue, adding: "It was actually a fantastic experience going into that detention centre and spending time with those miserable wretches of the earth. I feel I've learnt more than I would have in important sessions of the Historical Association."

Submitted by gjohnsit on Thu, 08/13/2015 - 11:25am

You've left something off

Evidence that this doesn't also happen to white people.

Otherwise it only means that cops are out of control, which is not something I would dispute.

Submitted by mimi on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 3:09pm

I think the real problem of the last years is

that police officers and private ex-military contracted "security" officers have some serious "trigger happy authoritarian superiority ego complex", probably developed through their military training gone to the dark side and cuddled during the Bush Iraq and Afghanistan years, which made the fight against the evil doing terrarists a life long mission that isn't over after leaving the military service. As so many ex-military find jobs in police and security related areas, the climate and attitudes spill into that environment.

You know if you have a hammer everything looks like a nail, if you have a gun any black person looks like a threat to be allowed to be "shot" at before anything else.

It's the police officers that are out of control, uncontrolled, unlicensed and not hold accountable and not being persecuted. The whole attitude is more and more authoritarian and exploitative on any level. In my neighborhood the amount of time police stops cars for no reason at all is mind-boggling.

Submitted by mimi on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 2:53pm

oh, then I would have to shut up for good too,

... may be I will, as a German who has been schlepped here ...

Kidding. I admire and respect your attitude, but then somehow that would mean any immigrant who isn't citizen should shut up. Or isn't it the citizenship of the US that makes you and accepted commentator online?

Submitted by MarilynW on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 3:07pm

I was told to shut up for being a Canadian only once

a while back, when someone wrote "don't pay attention to her, she is Canadian" and the few times I get in a real argument my opponent brings up my nationality even if it has nothing to do with the argument. But mostly it's not an issue. I've gone back and forth across the border since I was in my teens. My mother married a US citizen and moved to Staten Island. Then she and my brother became US citizens.

The Canadian dollar dropping to 70 cents US is keeping us from visiting like we are used to.

I used to quit DKos completely close to the elections but now I'm staying for the EB and the Greens.

—

To thine own self be true.

Submitted by mimi on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 3:11pm

agree especially with your last sentence /nt

Submitted by dkmich on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 4:48pm

BLM has its strategy. Here is another.....

So we did this thing where we filed a Title VI complaint to stop Rick Synder

It's been a couple of decades of Republican fuckery in Michigan education, and specifically in Detroit. Well, we got sick of it and worked together with the Detroit School Board to file a Title VI complaint with the Department of Justice. It's GAME ON.

("We" is the folks over at Go Left America, the citizen activism division of Bold Blue Media, the state and local political services company I launched here on Dkos in May 2013)

Worth the trip to check out the diary and their links. Didn't know about this group before. Did any of you?

—

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

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 5:47pm

I know this group sort of

Mdselle is a FB friend of mine and she started this group along with an online magazine aimed at promoting Democrats. She has been an organizer within political campaigns in the past. She is not a radical, but works within the current political structure as a Democrat. I like what she is trying to do and she is very intelligent. But I am not involved with her organization. She is a nice person.
.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

Submitted by gjohnsit on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 12:33pm

Militarizing local police has not stopped

link

Even after Barack Obama, prompted by Ferguson, ordered a government-wide review of the provision of military hardware to police, lethal weaponry, vehicles, equipment and cash continue to funnel down to police – only now with more layers of red tape.
Across the panoply of programs by which state and local police can acquire weapons, vehicles, aircraft and surveillance tools typically used by the US military and intelligence agencies, police must now merely jump through more bureaucratic hoops rather than face an outright ban on all but the most controversial items – many of which had not been distributed for years. Federal security agencies describe police departments as partners to aid, while pledging greater scrutiny over their requests.

Pursuant to a government-wide directive issued in May, police seeking sophisticated and potentially lethal hardware like shotguns or explosives must now provide a “detailed justification for acquiring the controlled equipment”. Applications must include acknowledgement of any civil rights violations in the recent past, with an explanation of corrective action. Police must also show “evidence of a civilian governing body’s review and approval or concurrence” – an endorsement that mayors, who depend on their police, may be unlikely to withhold.

In the event of a violation of usage conditions, US officials said, police would not necessarily have equipment confiscated. The Defense Department has long had its own rules for requisitioning its gear, as it retains the title to dispensed military hardware, but the Pentagon’s Wright said the military only reclaims that gear “under very rare circumstances”.

Submitted by dkmich on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 4:50pm

Is that all you have to do to be be president??

You hold a press conference, declare, decree or decry something, walk away and never follow up or be held accountable for not doing what you said you would do. How much does this job pay?

—

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

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 12:43pm

Just talked to the supervisor

of the roofing job we are having done. I told him I had tried to keep my husband off the roof and he said he was glad that he was up there because it helped keep the guys in line. He was also impressed with the work my husband had done on the renovations. I think it must be a tough job supervising roofers since it is basically hard manual labor requiring young, mostly unskilled workers.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

Submitted by gjohnsit on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 12:39pm

Pentagon: Journalists are enemies

link

Journalists, the manual says, are generally regarded as civilians, but may in some instances be deemed “unprivileged belligerents,” a legal term that applies to fighters that are afforded fewer protections than the declared combatants in a war. In some instances, the document says, “the relaying of information (such as providing information of immediate use in combat operations) could constitute taking a direct part in hostilities.”
The manual warns that “Reporting on military operations can be very similar to collecting intelligence or even spying,” so it calls on journalists to “act openly and with the permission of relevant authorities.” It says that governments “may need to censor journalists’ work or take other security measures so that journalists do not reveal sensitive information to the enemy.”

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 12:42pm

Whoa!!!

In reading this, I interpret it to mean that our government has declared open war upon we the people via our journalists!

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

Submitted by gjohnsit on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 12:48pm

Seymour Hersh would be an “unprivileged belligerent” today

for reporting the My Lai massacre.

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 12:51pm

Seymour Hersh

is still an "unprivileged belligerent."

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

Submitted by MarilynW on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 1:22pm

Good Morning GG!

It's still morning here. I'm about to watch Canada vs New Zealand softball championship game, streaming from Oklahoma City. New Zealand? who would have thought that small country would be the big challenger this year?

Electioneering is revving up in Canada. The NDP (left wing labour party) has its office right next door to me but I have not visited. It looks so dull. The green offices on the other hand are very inviting. I will vote to defeat Harper's conservatives that could mean NDP or Green depending on the last minute polls.

Good news about Jon Stewart and his wife, they are opening up an animal refuge for rescued farm animals.

—

To thine own self be true.

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 1:43pm

Good Day, Marilyn!

I love the idea that Jon Stewart and his wife are rescuing farm animals. I have always thought pigs were cite too!

Good luck on defeating Harper. We need to sweep all these neo liberals out of office, regardless of the country they govern. Neo liberalism is destroying people and our earth.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

Submitted by Unabashed Liberal on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 4:49pm

That is great news! I'm a lifelong vegetarian, anyway,

but tears still come to my eyes when I think of a NPR interview I heard a year or two ago, about the cruel conditions which are imposed upon pigs/hogs in commercial farm/warehousing situations.

They are highly intelligent animals--it has to be particularly hard on them--mentally, as well as physically.

(Not that I'm not sympathetic to all warehoused animals. I have to turn away from trucks carrying any of them to slaughter.)

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

—

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

Submitted by mimi on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 2:56pm

OMG I love piggies so much, too cute /nt

Submitted by smiley7 on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 1:32pm

Hi GG and All...

Popped in early, but didn't feel too well and went back to bed. Thanks for the OT.

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 1:44pm

Good afternoon, Smiley,

I hope you will be feeling better real soon. Take care of yourself.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

Submitted by Unabashed Liberal on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 4:53pm

Ditto! Didn't know you were 'puny'--get well soon. ;-) N/T

—

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

Submitted by Unabashed Liberal on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 3:52pm

Greetings All! Thanks for the interesting OT, Nancy--I always

especially enjoy music-related ones.

Also, sending Al happy 'belated' birthday wishes!

Here's a repost of an article that I posted last night. (Self-explanatory.)

Investigations

Hillary Clinton Instructs Aides to Hand Over E-Mail Server to Justice Department

Aug 11, 2015 6:48 PM CDT

Hillary Clinton has directed her aides to hand over to the Justice Department a private e-mail server that she used during her tenure as secretary of state, her presidential campaign said Tuesday.

Spokesman Nick Merrill confirmed Clinton's request and said the Democratic front-runner has also asked that the department be given a thumb drive that contains copies of her e-mails.

Clinton has "pledged to cooperate with the government's security inquiry, and if there are more questions, we will continue to address them," Merrill said.

Clinton's promise to to hand over the server and thumb drive came after the Intelligence Community Inspector General sent a letter dated Tuesday to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, saying intelligence community classification officials had identified materials in two out of four suspect e-mails that had gone through her private server that "include information classified up to ‘TOP SECRET/SI/TK/NOFORN.'"

That designation indicates secret information, including imagery from spy satellites, that is prohibited from being sent to foreign nationals. . .

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sad news. FP Carter has cancer, discovered after his recent (liver) surgery.

Mollie

—

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

Submitted by Unabashed Liberal on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 4:56pm

Apparently, Conservatives Plan To Exploit BLM 'Divide'

in the Party, during the upcoming Presidential election.

As opposed to the way that Vox characterized it--as a divide between Democrats who are economic/labor issue oriented, versus the identity-politics faction of the Dem Party--conservative Republicans will frame the division as being between "liberal" versus "conservative, " or blue collar/working class, Democrats.

(They may know better, but they'll bet that their Base won't.)

The Republican Party plans to make this one of the major issues of the 2016 Presidential campaign. I don't know, but I'm guessing that it's to further agitate parts of their Base who are still livid over the Confederate flag brouhaha. Between that issue, and the two recent SCOTUS rulings (marriage equality and the ACA), Republicans already have a highly inflamed Base. Guess the Republican PtB plan to 'add fuel to the fire.'

And aside from GOTV efforts, this frame (I'm guessing) will be employed in order to siphon off votes from any Dem Party Candidate, especially Bernie, whose populist message might make inroads with some so-called Reagan Democrats.

Now, I heard this yesterday on XM Radio, during a conversation with two very well-placed political Washington insiders--one of the founders of Real Clear Politics, Tom Bevan, and one of his chief apparatchiks at RCP, Washington Bureau Chief, Carl Cannon.

Folks might want to try to catch their program on XM on Tuesdays, from 1:00-2:00 CST. It is hard to beat their site for polling, and they do present all sides on any issue--news and opinion.

Also, last two days, due to Clinton 'woes,' many more reporters/analysts believe that VP Biden will strongly considering entering the race.

Some reporters figure that if any more 'shoes fall,' there will likely be calls for an "Independent Prosecutor" (like Ken Starr), instead of just an IG investigation.

Apparently, they have already established that some of her closest aides, including Weiner's wife, communicated using FSC's private server (for their emails).

Not good.

Also, "lots" of negative press about FSC's campaign, in general. I have very serious doubts that she'll be in the race much longer. (Don't mean that she'll be gone tomorrow, but if she makes it through the Primary Debates, I'll be surprised.)

And more and more speculation about the Trump and WJC 'phone call'--that neither man will discuss. Could Trump be trolling the Republican Party in order to throw the race to FSC? Guess we'll never really know. (He's definitely been a contributor to her campaigns.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The weather here is (finally) very nice.

Yeah!

I'm working on a new theme for a blog, but must admit that I'm having a hard time sticking with it (or blogging), since it's actually a pleasure to be outdoors.

Have a good one, Everyone!

Postcript: I believe they said that FSC and Bernie will share the stage in Iowa (the Fair?) this weekend. Most of her Iowa events have been highly scripted--and the participants were 'vetted.' Reporters are wondering if she will participate in something called 'The Soapbox.' (Not sure what it is, too pushed to find out, LOL!)

Mollie

—

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

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 6:08pm

Hi Mollie

For a very long time, I have been predicting that the Clinton campaign will implode before the general election. There is way too much baggage there along with her inability to disguise her basic disdain for us people. Her hubris will be her undoing.

While kos and his minions try to minimize it, her negatives are scary when you look at the general election. I also believe that means that her current support is not that strong. In other words, many of her supporters could be up for grabs. Add to that the enthusiasm that Sanders generates, particularly among younger voters and his ability to actually attract some sane Republicans and Independents and Clinton's path to the Presidency is becoming very narrow.

So the PTB in the Democratic party elite are starting to look at Plan B (ie, Joe Biden). That is why I believe there is a strong push to have Joe Biden run. He is far more likable that HRC and his basic administration would be similar corporate friendly except for maybe a little less war mongering.

Great comment!

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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