caucus99percent

free-range politics, organic community

Of course you are aware that around the country there are legislative efforts to force transgender people to use the bathroom and locker rooms reserved for the sex we were assigned at birth. In some places, it is phrased rather as requiring those facilities to be segregated by chromosomes.

Awkward, that. As a society, we have never determined assignment of sex at birth by a test of chromosomes. I'm 68 years old and, as far as I know, I have never had my chromosomes tested. Ever.

I find it stranger still that the forces calling for this anti-transgender discrimination have such little regard for science in general. These are people who believe the universe was created between 6000 and 7000 years ago, that a woman was created from the rib of a man, and that Jesus rode to Sunday School on the back of a dinosaur.

I don't really have the time to do this right, so I'll just link to the site and quote a few bits.

"War in our time is always a war against children. And if the children of other countries are to be granted an equal right to life with our own children, then we must use our extraordinary human ingenuity to find nonmilitary solutions for world problems." - Howard Zinn.

The Methare Ghetto Kids dancing in Nairobi

He should prostate himself before the almighty Democratic Party and plead to be pardoned for daring to fight for the weakest!

He should grovel before the anointed one for daring to take on the DNC!

He should donate a pound of his flesh to the Party grandees and pray to be absolved of all his sins!

He should abandon all hope like the rest of you oiks!

We won, so fuck you!

Oh and by the way

You should get on the bus in the name of #partyunity!

No snark. Over at Salon:

We are literally watching the Clinton campaign drain any claim to nuance, critical thinking, reasoned logic, and attention to facts from the Democratic party.

There is a real difference in the aggressive, hawkish, illogical tone of the Clinton campaign that differentiates it from those of Democrats in the last decades.

I did not RSVP for the live stream because of the weird stuff I read here about some of the sign ups. So I started looking around to see if I could find it being run somewhere. Here is what I found, and I hope it works. If not, can someone, please, post a running transcript for those of us who are not plugged in? Thank you.

The consumer inflation index rose only 0.2% last month and everyone breathed a sigh of relief because of it. However, a cursory look behind the numbers showed real problems with two of the largest spending items.

Rent

So, I threw my back out and couldn’t sit for long at the computer—and on the same day, my computer started turning itself off abruptly every time it booted up! (I think there may be a fan/overheating problem). I’m now relegated to my laptop, and relatively short stints at keyboard.

It now seems that Facebook is blocking attempts to share or re-post content from sites that are involved in the March on DNC and other protest groups, by blocking users from sharing those posts and displaying to them the following message:

The action attempted has been deemed abusive or is otherwise disallowed.

To keep from getting blocked again, please make sure you've read and understand Facebook's community standards.

Photo Credit: Friends of the Earth

Climate change still being used as a political football even it is not a scientific one

Automating knowledge work is my job, and it scares the crap out of me. Moreover, the Democratic Party's professional base is living in a dangerous fantasy world. Some of them get it, and the hysteria around every perceived educational advantage is a symptom of this, but it won't save them.

i'm a glassblower from wisconsin, been on the torch since late 2011-early 2012 when i was still focused heavily on sculptural metalworking and sculptural metal turning. i went back to school after many years of working culinary, everything from dishwasher to pastry chef, saladier to banquet chef at the biggest venue in town. before i continue, i want to stress that this is a rant, and not a call for sympathy or for help. fuck all that, we've all got our problems.

The human species is very comfortable with killing. There is a sham morality that says killing can be bad but it carries so little weight in the big scheme of things. All carnivores kill for food, but this is something else.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania recently sent a letter to Mayor Kenney today, June 15, 2016, regarding its concerns involving ongoing discussions, formal and informal, between City officials and about the marches, rallies and other events scheduled to occur during the Democratic Convention. The ACLU of Pennsylvania has been meeting with City of Philadelphia officials, both formally and informally.

Ten days ago a charred body was found in a burned out car in New Orleans East (The 9th Ward). That body has now been identified as Devin Diamond. The Nola Coroner's Office has classified the death as a homicide. The victim was beaten to death before the car was torched.

Although described as a male by the Coroner's Office, further investigation reveals that Devin had begun transition.

George Melichar, who knew Diamond through a French Quarter retail job, said the two had a conversation on the subject several months ago.

When I asked her if she identified as a man or a woman, she told me that she would answer to both. But being that she was transitioning, I felt that it was the best to refer to her as a woman, and she agreed.

Devin was very loved, and Devin was very kind. And that's what makes this more difficult. In addition to losing a friend, we lost an LGBT leader.

--Melichar

I never thought I'd end up being that guy. You know, the guy arguing on Facebook until he gets defriended. I didn't even think it was an argument. To me, it seemed like a strongly worded discussion among Liberals. Hillary's name didn't even come up once.We were two people on the same side of the liberal fence. We never even mentioned the candidates by name. So how did it come that karateexplosions is no longer my friend on Facebook?

Spoke to Billy Taylor this morning, the lead organizer for The March on DNC who is working with many groups to coordinate events planned for the thousands of people expected to go to Philadelphia and show the DNC they can't ignore Bernie and our movement. He had some bad news. Facebook itself is actively blocking posts from organizers to their own FB pages for these events

Take a look at a couple of screenshots he sent me:

I found WindDancer13's blog entry this morning very informative re: the current debate among Sanders 'revolutionaries' as to how we ought to be focusing ourselves from this point on.

I can tell you that while I agree with much that Sane Debbie has to say, I actually lean more toward Cenk's take on how Sanders followers might best respond to a Hillary Clinton nomination.

Volunteer. Attend if you can. But please if you have some spare change, and would like a tax deduction, too please Donate.

We need your help to take a Platform by the people brought to the floor of the DNC Convention by the delegates working with The People's Revolution & our event on July 23rd, The People's Convention.

It's not an easy job 'doing God's work', and this week was no exception.

The People's Summit - $50 - 200. per person June 17-19

Before I get to my take on the “real” definition, the political scientist in me feels a need to define some commonly misunderstood terms of which socialism is a great example. Like many people here in the US, I have always been very uncomfortable with the word socialism, and in my case, I realize it is because that one word has many very different meanings.

Back in the mid-80s my friends and I were at the only gay bar within 100 miles in any direction and one of the only five in the entire state of Tennessee. It was the middle of summer and everyone had Saturday Night Fever. Being the only gay bar around it was always crowded on the weekends and everyone was in their groups. The lesbians were hanging out by the pool table. The preppies were in the corner booth. The punk and new wave crowd were in the darkest corner.

In the wake of the Orlando massacre, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn writes at Health IT News about health disparities faced by the LGBT community in America.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control, has an over-arching goal to improve the health, safety, and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. The CDC points out that LGBT individuals face health disparities linked to societal stigma, discrimination, and denial of civil and human rights. These challenges have been associated, in clinical peer-reviewed literature, with higher rates of psychiatric disorders, substance abuse, and suicide.

Experiences of violence are frequent for LGBT individuals

--CDC

About to take my adult son over to get tested for "Drugs." It's part of a on the job training program he was accepted into for people with severe neurological disabilities. He only takes gummy vitamin D and marijuana tincture that helps his anxieties due to autism.

I am staying at a friends place in Cali and they watch a lot of corporate news -- I mean, A LOT!

The tone of the last week has been monotonous and rather boring -- Hillary's coronation and the Drumpf. It was a low intensity, bored howl. A bit aggressive and standoffish, to keep the edge, but it was sedate.

... because I posted a shortish rant to my Facebook page and shit then promptly blew up, lol. I guess I might be outing myself here, but truly, a lot people already know my real name and stuff.

I'm bound to piss off someone with this, but I hope most of you can dig it:

-----

Imma rant now, and rant hard:

UPDATE: I quoted a report by Capitol Weekly that stated that the Capitol Weekly / Open California Exit Poll was weighted thusly:

American Palestinians sue settlement supporters in federal court OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)--

A group of American Palestinians from the West Bank have filed a lawsuit in a Washington court against a string of US-based tycoons, companies and organizations supporting settlement construction on Palestinian land. The suit was filed in the Federal District Court of Washington DC last Monday, June 6, 2016, according to Israeli newspapers.