Open Thread - Friday, September 4, 2015
'Our Votes Matter': Rights Marchers in North Carolina Call for End to Voter Suppression
Over one month into their multi-state trek, civil rights leaders and activists on Thursday are descending on the North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh to call attention to what they say is a flagrant "crime against democracy," the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act.
Following in the footsteps of civil rights leaders and activists a generation ago, the NAACP on August 1 launched its 860-mile Journey for Justice, from Selma, Alabama to Washington, D.C. with the message that, "Our lives, our votes, our jobs, and our schools matter."
As the march continues through North Carolina, participants are decrying what they say is a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise minority voters.
Humankind Has Halved the Number of Trees on the Planet
The good news: there are over 3 trillion trees covering the Earth—that's far higher than the 4 billion estimated just two years ago, a team of international researchers has found.
But here's the bad news: there were far more trees—46 percent more—before human civilization got hold, with an estimated 15 billion trees being lost own each year, with just 5 billion replanted.
"Trees are among the most prominent and critical organisms on Earth, yet we are only recently beginning to comprehend their global extent and distribution," said Thomas Crowther, a Yale Climate & Energy Institute post-doctoral fellow at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and lead author of the study, in a press statement.
The Kim Davis Case Is About Disobeying The Rule Of Law, Not About Religious Liberty
Repeat after me . . .
Kim Davis is not being held in contempt of court for her Christian beliefs.Federal Judge David Bunning ordered county clerk Kim Davis to be held in contempt of court for her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Rowan County, Kentucky. Davis will be released from jail when she agrees to do the job she was elected to do when she took an oath to perform “without favor, affection or partiality.”
'Criminalization Of Christianity': Religious Right Goes Ballistic Over Jailing Of Kim Davis
A federal judge today jailed Kentucky clerk Kim Davis for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples — not for her Christian beliefs. Now, the fireworks from the right begin.
The CIA and the Media: 50 Facts the World Needs to Know
Since the end of World War Two the Central Intelligence Agency has been a major force in US and foreign news media, exerting considerable influence over what the public sees, hears and reads on a regular basis. CIA publicists and journalists alike will assert they have few, if any, relationships, yet the seldom acknowledged history of their intimate collaboration indicates a far different story–indeed, one that media historians are reluctant to examine.
Comments
Morning. I've long had an issue with the idea of
thinking that addressing voter suppression solves anything. Not when we have this:
So if voter suppression was addressed and all those people who couldn't vote could now vote, they'd still be voting for one of the two
"great" parties. A lot of good that does us.
And when you think about it, how can the people in a country of well over 300 million be given only two choices, this side or that side?
good morning
Was suppose to be at a meeting, building lost power. Waiting to hear new plan. I've always envied how other countries can just say enough is enough and call for new elections. Not sure how it works, but I can think of a lot of politicians, Rick Snyder, Bill Clinton, George W., that I'd like to see gone well before their terms are up.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Tru dat
We need a multi-party coalition government. The problem is the system rigging.
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 -
If we went to a parliamentary system
it seems we would have the opportunity for more parties. However, choice will only come if we rid politics of the corrupting influence of money.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Parliament like Canada?
Harper got in with 38% of the vote and wielded power since 2006. He had enough numbers in parliament to pass "Omnibus bills" that were so big it took days to read them. It's been a very destructive period. It will take years for Canada to recover. We are not too happy with our system right now.
To thine own self be true.
Well,
On paper it sounds better. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Proportional seats in parliament as in Germany, Netherlands etc.
In principle, a party that gets X percent of the vote in a parliamentary election should get X percent of the seats.
At the other end of the spectrum, parliaments elected by "first past the post" (FPTP, simple plurality) voting as in the U.K. are often as bad as, or even worse than, the current U.S. Congress.
Good Morning Tim and 99%'ers
Just go in from a three mile walk in balmy north Florida where the temperature is currently 82 degrees. It felt almost cold compared to the upper 90's we experienced while we were in central Florida. I can hardly wait to get back to NC where the weather is sane.
I agree with Al that our current two party system is a form of voter suppression now that both parties are owned lock, stock, and barrel by the corporatists.
Nevertheless, voter suppression in any shape or form is still evil and should be fought when certain groups are being targeted. In the case of NC, it is minorities and the youth. And now the Democratic party is suppressing the public's right to get to know the candidates with their debates suppression. As long as we stand for any of these suppressive techniques, we are losing our right to real choice in our elections.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
They evolution of our society into
... a wealth worshiping culture has basically ended any possibility of incorruptibility. I can not think of a politician that isn't either owned or has drunk the kool-aid due to low intellect.
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 -
Good Morning!
I thought racist comments were banned over there and yet I read this yesterday
from a Front Pager.
Did I misinterpret this, coming as I do from Canada with a different perspective?
I makes me feel hopeless on this issue. At least Dkos will never be the blog where
any true reconciliation takes place. There's just too much hate.
(Oh, and recommended by 11 people at last count.)
To thine own self be true.
I guess it isn't so bad that I don't get there much
There are only a few diarists that warrant a look see.
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 -
Ella Fitzgerald!
The most wonderful vocalist ever. I loved her voice.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Good Morning, Tim, I agree with you and thanks for the OT /nt
https://www.euronews.com/live
Do you mind
providing a link to that so I can read it in context? Thanks in advance.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Here it is so you will see the context
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/1417903/57489156#c163
I initially posted the middle paragraph.
To thine own self be true.
Than you Marilyn
The context did not make it any better. It is really sad to read this.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
not knowing who wrote that comment, I would just say,
it's written on purpose to enhance the divisions. It's like an incurable disease. And the site allows commentators and writers to play with the worst instincts of humans. No respect for that.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Written by BBB
yo
I used to like him.
Very good comment mimi, thanks.
To thine own self be true.
I am really sad to read this
Amazingly, this same person who appears to hate white people is supporting a white boomer woman who is a corporatist and someone who could care less about people of color. I know that as a white person, I am a person of "privilege" compared to black people, but I fail to understand why there is so much hostility toward all of us like we are monolithic group. This stereotyping is beyond my comprehension. It really pains me to see divisions being promoted by a supposedly progressive web site. I mean, it really pains me to the point of tears. Stereotyping is so counter productive to anything other than making the person who is doing the stereotyping feel superior. Sad in that it continues a legacy of division and will continue to divide us even further if his views are typical. I have never understood the need for revenge which is what it seems to be.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
well, I read the whole comment now,
and the context doesn't lead me to think it was done to enhance the division. So, I take that back for that specific comment, because you have to consider what follows that paragraph. BBB thinks there is some hope because of all those multi-racial young kids born. I think he is pipe dreaming in that regard. The multi-racial humans have the same inclinations to divide and conquer.The whole comment thread is worth trash though. I don't read those diaries, including Shaun King's. Not because they are bad, but because usually they don't tell me anything I wouldn't know already. So, I skip them. I just don't read much anymore over there. It's not the place I want to hang around anymore.
https://www.euronews.com/live
I don't agree on the hope
He is predicting that white people will change only after their birthrate declines and they have minority status. And when that happens, my interpretation is that he foresees vindication, meaning reverse racism.
Good luck with that. Here we are all under threat of climate chaos and we need this?
To thine own self be true.
what BBB doesn't consider is that multi-racial people
becoming the majority and the "pure white and blacks /s" (sorry for that, I don't know how to express myself without making a snark tag with it) being in the minority, doesn't lead to any sort of reverse racism or vindications.
It's always just a small group who ventures out that route and multi-racial people are not homogeneous at all, very different kind of folks, so much so, people have no idea what any of them might be thinking of any issue in any time. Reverse racism would develop just when the "new racism" is institutionalized. And then you will have a counter-resistance against that too.
All I see is confusion, misunderstandings, deliberate efforts to divide people on the basis of their ethnicity and amount of pigments in their skin. What kind of fun that is...
You know when there is really a big threat to mankind's survival through climate change, it will bring all those pitiful quarrels and divisions of races to an end anyhow.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Climate change
Thank you for this mimi!
If Meteor Blades did not write about it, there would be nothing about climate change on dkos. It will wreak havoc on the poorest of people first and then upon the rest of us later. No one will be immune.
Right now, our problems are so overwhelming but one problem threaten our extinction as a species. And we need to pull together to address that problem instead of fighting each other.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Environmentalists have quit because of lack
of readership. There was a group who invited eco writers to post. A writer like Steve Horn of DeSmog (one of the best eco blogs there is) - he was told off for not interacting in the comments. There were so few readers of most of the diaries that the person who invited the guest writers was embarrassed that she invited them. She started another blog and doesn't post on DKos anymore (that I have seen).
To thine own self be true.
right, one problem with the dkos site is that they try to do
everything and allow anything to be written about. I have tons of diaries I would like to read but don't, because there is just not enough space in my mind and time in my life to absorb all the details you can learn from those diaries. Environmental issues have been written about, (of course then you get all the damn discussions of expert scientists and expert non-scientist of what it all means and who is right and who is wrong, which is off-putting and time consuming to read as well), and later MB collected them all in the green rescue diaries list. A very honorable service for the readers, imo, like the EB and other list-like collections.
I believe the site is falling apart because they try to do too much. Lack of readership imo is due to overexposure with too many issues at once. It's like to get a print version of a magazine and then realize that most of it you don't read, because ... you just have enough time and capability to focus, and the magazine stack up in corner of your rooms waiting there for you ... to get to them and read them, which often then doesn't happen.
One reason I don't think it is of importance to walk behind a dailykos banner, is that it is not clear what dailykos stands for. So, you can as well march under other banners, which are issue focussed.
On a blog not getting enough comments and discussions in a thread is supposedly a sign that is embarrassing to the author. Imo opinion it shouldn't be the case. If someone writes for a newspaper or magazine, it's the articles that counts and the couple of comments are really irrelevant. Dkos with its rec system and rec list and the struggle to stay on top of the rec list a couple of hours longer than the other diaries, is really a futile and imo ridiculous set-up. Dkos needs the clicks and shares, ventures out to twitter and facebook etc. Why not closing down dkos and just be a facebook site then?
The positive thing about this site, I believe, will be the fact that the only thing you can do here, click-wise, is to thumb it up anonymously (thank God for that) and nothing more. Everything else you have to do verbally. If you go overboard, you get a gentle reminder, that people think you went a little overboard, and you can talk it out and calm it down. That's what would happen in real life.
I have developed a strong desire to get off from reading blogs that cover everything of life's problems and return to just very specific issues and blogs and otherwise all the books I collected while reading dailykos. I am still not there yet. It's hard to do the switch and change in your daily reading habits.
Just saying what's my development in my relations to the dailykos site.
https://www.euronews.com/live
elephant talk
Once again
binary illogical thinking that solves nothing. It's the same double think that believes everything is about beating the Republicans rather then dealing with the underlying systemic and societal causes. Problem solved if there are more people of color then white people. How will that end racism or any of the issues that are inseparable from the whole broken global anti-humanist system? I liked the comment on the bottom of the thread
So strange and surreal to believe that changing the race of the majority via the death of white boomers will end anything. Demographic's like this are meaningless as far as concepts like equality, democracy, jutice and universal human and civil rights go. Kind of creepy and racist as if the number count is the problem and the cause of racism, sexism, poverty and all of humanities ills. It's the same mentality that these people use to rationalize their insane partisanship which does not care how racist, classist, anti-democratic, inhumane or evil their side is. All that matters is our side must win because that will be a victory. A victory for what?
DKos is not reality
In the DKos world, you can say anything you want about white people and they not only should just accept it, but agree as well.
There is absolutely nothing you can say to change their minds. They are completely and utterly closed.
Anyone who doesn't agree is racist. Anyone who gets bothered in any way "doesn't get it".
The fundamental aspect of racism is stereotyping people by skin color. You can only do that for white people, according to DKos.
It really is a racist double-standard, and they are comfortable with it. In fact, applying racist stereotypes to white people cannot be racism to them simply because of their white skin.
DKos is the liberal short-bus.
Stereotyping
I have posted over there several times about how much stereotyping goes on there. The thing is most people agree that stereotyping is bad, until it is about race. I really have a problem with someone telling me that all whites are the same. I respectfully disagree just as I disagree with the prevalent attitude that all of us southerners are the same. Regardless of the group, be it race age, geographic location, type of music we like, the vehicle we drive, hair color, weight, or any one of a zillion distinguishing features, I bristle over stereotyping. Stereotyping allows us to fail to see people as individuals, each of us having our own unique talents and characteristics.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Thanks for your comment gg!
I felt a wave of hatred over that pos comment so your response is appreciated. That metaphor of "crashing the gates" - it's changed, Kos is locking the gates by putting some hateful people in charge.
To thine own self be true.
I spend about a half hour a day on DK these days, a fraction of
what I used to spend there. The atmosphere has become far too toxic for me. Seems like more and more people are going out of their way to deliberately antagonize one another. Of course shit disturbers have never been hard to find over there but it's worse now. The Bernie/Hillary arguments aren't that surprising although there are some commenters on both sides of that that are truly disgusting, but the obvious hatred spewing out in the diaries involving race really caught me off guard. I felt like I had something to say on that but quickly learned to just keep my mouth shut because apparently nothing I had to say as a white man was relevant. The hardest part for me to understand is that some of the most hateful comments of all get recced to the sky. Anyway, as important as I believe that honest discussion on race is an absolute necessity if we're ever going to accomplish anything positive, I'm staying out of it over there, no point in going where I'm not wanted and also because I'm not really into being ridiculed.
All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon
burnt out, you are a very wise man
I hope that you will continue to post here regularly.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Heh, I'm pretty sure that's the first time anyone's ever accused
me of being a wise man. Don't know how wise I am, but if that means I'm smart enough to steer clear of train wrecks when I see them coming, I'll take it. ( : Thanks gg, you've got a good heart.
All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth. John Lennon
A personal question to techies
Are you aware of the regulations that allow an heir of a deceised person to ask Microsoft for permission to get all email access of a deceased father? This email account contains all email of the deceased for the last twenty years. Is that legal to grant that access? There are other heirs, who don't have that access, and whose personal email exchanges with the deceased is now revealed.
Ok, it's a very weird question, but it's also a very weird life. Sigh. Just asking.
https://www.euronews.com/live
if i remember correctly...
google has a process for relatives recovering accounts after a user has passed away, though it's been years since i read about it and didn't pay that much attention. it's the sort of thing that i would suspect that comes up often enough that just about every large email service provider must have some policy/process for. i would imagine that microsoft (hotmail?) would have such a process.
thanks Joe, may be I try to find it out,
I have not enough skin in it, because I don't care who reads what I exchanged with my former husband or not, but I was just puzzled when I started to think about the consequences for those, who might mind about it and felt the unfairness of it. I guess the person with access can also delete emails then, which some might think are important to have as a matter of "proof" for things heirs can't get over with. If you are dead, you are done, as BB King said so rightly. Let the good times roll. Not that easy for many descendents of a deceased person.
Yack, email servers....the crux of our lives these days. I really miss the days when people had to write letters on papers, which you could keep in your drawer and others couldn't access your private conversations without breaking into your house and violating tons of laws.
Gone are the days of privacy. Up came the days of slave-like dependencies that the new technology introduced in our lives. Who wants to live with that technology, really?
https://www.euronews.com/live
The Fantasy World of Ben Carson
More crazy fundamentalists
Obama's "pantomime of outrage"
Obama's Syrian failure
I am not sure I completely agree
with the thrust of this article. It seems as though the author is saying we should have gone into Syria militarily ourselves. Am I reading this wrong?
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 disagree with the conclusion too
I think that our real crime is in helping to destroy Syria, not our failure to save it.
That being said, the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world under Obama = a failure of foreign policy no matter how you slice it.
Then we agree! (n/t)
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
More than help g.
This has been a United States LED operation from the beginning.
I think over at Daily Kos they just think it was a coincidence that Wesley Clark and others said the U.S.
goal was to take down Syria because then Obama because President and it simply couldn't be true.
Our feckless PM Stephen Harper had a tear in his eye
when he was asked about the baby boy on the beach. His government had promised to fast-track 10,000 Syrian refugees into Canada a year ago. He tells the press that Canada has welcomed 2.5 million new people. The number of Syrians welcomed in the last year is 1,300 approx.
Oh yes, he did blame ISIS and hinted that we need more war power over there.
Refugee problem? Answer: more bombs.
To thine own self be true.
You know what I hate? If people cry in front of a camera
exactly when it seems to be appropriate. One day I will do a research of video clips of people crying for the camera. Real tears are not shed for cameras. I also like to make a study of people crying at funerals. I have been to five funerals of people I loved or were closely related to for a long time. You know there are as many kind of tears as there are different kind of laughters. You can recognize the meaning of different kind of laughters, usually. Same is true for tears, if you pay attention.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Harper is clearly one of them.
Canada has Syrian blood on it's hands also.
a tear in his eye?
they say that once you can fake sincerity, you've got it made.
Former ISIS jihadists now fighting in Ukraine
They are now on our side
Hee's a good article showing the timeline of ISIS and
the Syrian war. I think many here aren't really sold on the fact that the U.S. and it's President Obama, along with
his SOS' Kerry and Clinton are the primary criminals responsible for what's happening in Syria. This article provides
much information regarding that.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/syrian-war-islamic-state-isis-creation-time...
Here's a couple other recent articles about the US using terrorists to overthrow Assad and destroy Syria.
http://www.zengardner.com/10-proofs-isis-scripted-psyop/
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.ca/2015/09/confirmed-us-to-use-al-qaeda-to...