The Radiation Waiting Room by Susan Herron Sibbet. Probably this is the first oncology poem I've read, and it's a good one. Fuck cancer.
The humble pencil (which is actually pretty technical).
Something new has been added… at the Winchester Mansion. "Winchester, who was trapped in the room at the time of the 1906 earthquake, sealed the room away believing evil spirits had caused the quake." (Grokked from Alex C. Renwick)
"Looking at 60 past studies, Russ’s team found plenty of evidence that air pollution is associated with dementia. 'There weren’t any studies that didn’t find a link between air pollution and dementia… Particulate matter, nitric oxides, ozone or carbon monoxide – all were linked to dementia.'… There was also a clear link with vitamin D deficiency, and a weaker association with passive smoking and occupational exposure to pesticides… More surprising was the link between dementia and living close to power lines. 'There’s not a lot of evidence, but what there is seems to be reasonably robust…'"
"'The finding that generational differences in the Protestant work ethic do not exist suggests that organizational initiatives aimed at changing talent management strategies and targeting them for the 'very different' millennial generation may be unwarranted and not a value added activity,' Zabel said in a news release. 'Human resource-related organizational interventions aimed at building 21st century skills should therefore not be concerned with generational differences in Protestant work ethic as part of the intervention.'" So take your "Boomer's superior work-ethic, GenX and Millennials are slackers" concepts and shove it. Damn Boomers. #notallboomers (Grokked from Mer Haskell)
"Authorities say a pickup truck plowed through a crowd protesting in support of Native American rights on Columbus Day in Reno, Nevada, leaving five hurt."
"'There are a million ways you can weaponize drones — fire rockets, strap things in and crash them,' Chris Woods said. He added: 'This is the stuff everyone has been terrified about for years, and now it's a reality.'" Who needs suicide bombers when you can send a drone?
"Having lost the fight over gay marriage, (Louisiana's) religious right decided that the sacred institution of wedlock was once again under attack — this time, by devious immigrants. Undocumented workers and even terrorists had newly discovered they could exploit Louisiana’s marriage laws to gain citizenship, legislators claimed, leading to a supposed epidemic of 'marriage fraud.'… So, as of this year, any foreign-born person wanting to get married in Louisiana must produce both an unexpired visa… (and), somewhat inexplicably, a birth certificate." So many immigrants, legal immigrants, can't get married in Louisiana. Nope, totally not xenophobic at all. (Grokked from Justine Larbalestier)
You know that conservative talking point, re-lied by the Trumpster, about Muslims needing to help law enforcement (and intimating that they don't)? "The suspect, Jaber al-Bakr, one of the 890,000 migrants and refugees to enter Germany last year, was able to escape on Friday from his apartment… despite heavy surveillance and a police raid… A nationwide search resulted in his capture early Monday after unidentified Syrians in Leipzig recognized the fugitive from police appeals issued in Arabic and German, tied him up at an apartment and alerted the authorities." Also note, many of the refugees in Europe are different form those we bring to the US. Many made the land journey seeking asylum in Europe. The refugees who comes to the US are vetted by the UN and then by our State Department for nearly 2 years before they are allowed to enter the US. Many conservatives, including their Presidential candidate, don't want you to understand that there is that difference.
Kameron Hurley fairly describes what it's like to live in Ohio in this election year. I'll add I live in what otherwise would be considered a "rural" part of Ohio. I've seen Trump signs in yards (including the very big signs) since middle August (and most houses with one will have at least two or even five, yes, there are two houses on my commute that have 5). It's only been in the past two weeks that I've seen Clinton yard signs. For a long while I was concerned, but I'm feeling a little better now.
Conservatives anti-abortion women on voting for the Trumpster. Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B Anthony List, who is also a Trumpeter advisor, makes the case. Basically, it's about the Supreme Court, as also Hillary Clinton is also just as bad. From the conservative view, enablers are as bad as abusers, but neither should have jail terms. Note how Steve Instep needs to keep her on topic and to stop attacking Clinton. Also note the continuing conservative conspiracy theories and her stumble of "moral fiber has been slapped in the face…".
But Marjorie Dannenfelser is correct. This election is about the Supreme Court's direction for the next generation. For conservatives they talk about abortion (mostly), but for progressives there is so much more. There's Citizens United, Voting Rights Act, gay marriage, corporations having religious rights, treating corporate speech as equal to free speech, human's rights over corporation's rights, CFPB, clean air, clean water… All of these things will be affected by the SCOTUS the next president leaves us. So besides keeping a living dumpster fire of a person from gaining access to the levers of power, it's about ensuring our freedoms and liberties which have been under assault since the court was intentionally swayed in a "conservative" direction in the 80s. And here the conservative view of the 2016 election is correct, I would vote for a terrible person if I felt assured they would appoint justices who believe in the Constitution (and not in Scalia's cynical "Originalists" concepts), believe in freedom for all, believe in leveling the playing field for all, and believe that corporations are not actual humans (and are only given that fiction).
Case in point, a Federal Court rules the CPB is unconstitutional, but instead of striking it down, changes the relationship of the director from "dismissed with cause" to "serves at the pleasure of the President" thereby making it constitutional. IANAL, but that "Constitutional" bit sounds more like "precedent" and not something actually in the Constitution. Any Originalists want to disagree? (Yeah, didn't think so.)
Whackaloon Maine Gov. LePage spills the beans about wanting a strong man type authoritarian from a Trump presidency. Boom, there it is. Also, I love this part, "LePage was seemingly unconcerned by Trump’s comments about forcing himself on women… conceded that Trump is not the 'ideal guy I'd want my daughter going after.'… the Maine governor’s daughter, was hired in August by the Trump campaign as state coalitions director."
If you follow me on twitter you may have seen me make jokes about "really wanting there to be re-education camps." And when I type that, I think of people like this and am a bit ashamed, but then I think of those taking advantage of them and those are the ones who need the camps. "She… had once been a Democrat and was now a Republican… Like millions of others, she believed that President Obama was a Muslim. And like so many she had gotten to know online through social media, she also believed that he was likely gay, that Michelle Obama could be a man, and that the Obama children were possibly kidnapped from a family now searching for them… To Melanie, this was the glory of the 2016 presidential election. The truth about so many things was finally being accepted, from the highest levels of the Republican Party on down to the grass roots of America, where so many people like her didn’t care what some fact-checker said, much less that one day Trump would suggest that Obama wasn’t born in America, and on another say maybe he was." It's a disturbing read about a person whose world collapsed in on itself and how they found a voice and hope in the lunatic fringe. I'd say it reads like fiction, way to chockfull of confirmation bias, if I didn't know people very close to this in real life. And boy how the peddlers of the whackaloon life prey on them, not only taking their money, their support, and their sanity, but deny them a life. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
How's Wisconsin's voter ID law working out? It's stopping legal immigrants from voting. Well, I guess it's working as intended. Dear judge, time to fucking knock it down. (Grokked from Brandie Tarvin)
"Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence chided a Trump supporter Tuesday who talked about there being a post-election revolution if Hillary Clinton wins the election." There was talk like this in both 2008 and 2012, but it seems to me that it keeps increasing. Some of the vitriol earlier could be relived by "not having a True Conservative" running for office (as in, "this is why we lost"). In 2016 the alt-right doesn't have that release valve. You might remember several instances in late 2012 and early 2013 where white people shot cops and shouted about "starting the revolution." I have a feeling this fall will see an increase of such occurrences.
They're dreaming of a white cabinet. Just like the ones they knew before.
Tweet of my heart: @docrocktex26 The GOP spent the last 16 years vilifying the "elitism" of education/intelligence, but now they're surprised their base nominated an idiot. (Grokked from Paolo Bacigalupi)
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