Dear news media, yesterday's indictments were not "Shock and Awe." You don't understand that concept. Please stop using it. Shock and Awe would have been members of the cabinet and current staff. IMHO Mueller did go after "the low level" people to get their cooperation. That's how "bad" this is, a former campaign manager is "low fruit" in this investigation. Rumors are there are 6 other indictments still sealed.
Okay everybody, let's just settle down. An indictment is not a conviction. And even if Mueller is able to find the president's fingerprints on all this, he himself cannot impeach the president. And even if the president is implicated, and even charged with "high crimes and misdemeanors", it doesn't put a "null/void" stamp on any of his court appointments, any laws he's signed, any actions he's put into motion.
It would not halt the rise of the American Nazis/White Supremacists. It won't save Obamacare or stop the tax cuts that will ruin our economy. It won't mean Hillary is president.
It would, however, vindicate all of us who have fought him.
My foreign audience is exploding. Hi everyone so totally not in Russia. Although South Korea is also on the list, and I was pretty sure they had some tight security on their internet (not to mention cheap and very fast internet). So, who knows, maybe I'm very popular in France, Belgium, Italy, the Philippines, and Kuwait.
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee. Dennis Banks has passed. And so it goes.
A NYT interview with Mark Hamill on the advent of "The Last Jedi". (Grokked from John)
"FDA experts say black licorice contains the compound glycyrrhizin, which is the sweetening compound derived from licorice root. Glycyrrhizin can cause potassium levels in the body to fall. When that happens, some people experience abnormal heart rhythms, as well as high blood pressure, edema (swelling), lethargy, and congestive heart failure." Wait, I thought things that weren't drugs didn't have an effect on you (citing previous century of discounting anecdotal evidence of people feeling "better" or "worse" depending on the quality of their diet and/or nutritional supplements)? "No matter what your age, don’t eat large amounts of black licorice at one time." Well, yeah.
2009 Chevy Malibu vs 1959 Bel Air crash test… "The first inclination is, 'Oh, those old cars were built like tanks!' but its quickly apparent that the myriad safety features found on newer cars are literally lifesaving." Just a general note, the auto industry fought every single one of those safety features. (Grokked from Dan)
"The truly rare find could redefine paleontologists' understanding of how the creatures spread throughout ancient oceans, as the skeleton is the first from the Jurassic era to be found in India."
Remember the link about the mountain North Korea was using for its nuclear tests was "exhausted"? "About 200 people are feared dead in North Korea after underground tunnels at a nuclear test site that was feared to be unstable reportedly collapsed, crushing 100 people in the initial cave-in and 100 others when the tunnels again gave way on top of rescuers."
"Study: Climate Change Is Damaging the Health of Millions of People." Wait, you're saying it just doesn't mean that Ohio gets Florida's weather? Well fuck. "Perhaps most troubling, what we’re experiencing today is just the beginning." We're boned. "It’s a dire diagnosis, but the good news is that we know the cure. We simply must stop burning fossil fuels and releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, transitioning to clean, renewable energy resources." Wow, that's optimistic. Look, we can stop, 100% stop, burning fossil fuels this very minute, and atmospheric CO2 levels (and methane) will continue to rise for another decade. So no, that last statement is Pure Pollyanna at this point. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try, but at this point the best we can do is avoid the most severe consequences of climate change.
The argument over a new Authorization to Use Military Force.
"It’s sign-up season for the Affordable Care Act, but the Trump administration isn’t making it easy — cutting the enrollment period in half, slashing advertising and dialing back on counselors who help consumers get through the process… Many people already faced fewer choices and higher premiums. But President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel a subsidy to insurers that lowers consumer costs compounded the turmoil, pushing premiums even higher."
"But these days, statements of all stripes are bombarding us via broadcast and social media. The trick is classifying them correctly before we swallow them ourselves, much less before we hit 'Like,' 'Share' or 'Retweet.'" Yep. Teaching college students how to spot fake news.
"Twitter may be the public square of our times, but some citizens say their elected officials don't want to hear from them. It has become increasingly common for politicians at all levels of government to block followers, whether for uncivil behavior or merely for expressing a different point of view." A somewhat light take on a serious matter. As a former elected official, I get it. But, just as I had to have a phone listed in my name, and be open to meeting anyone from the village (or who did business in the village, or who affected the residents of the village), you can't just block constituents (non-constituents are on their own). Twitter is a way to hear from the people you serve. And courtesy goes both ways. But, my elected officials look at twitter the same way Utah State Senator Weiler does, like it's a game.
"John Kelly calls Robert E. Lee an 'honorable man' and says 'lack of compromise' caused the Civil War." And this is the supposed "adult" or "smart guy" in the White House. Gen. Kelly is showing his ass. So not only does he not fully understand his own personal history and the world he has lived in (see earlier comments about "honoring women" etc), he has no clue as to actual history. How the hell did this guy make general? "While some contend that the Civil War was fought over states' rights, scholars generally agree that slavery was the primary driver of the conflict." Well, to be fully truthful, you don't learn about a lot of these things in public school (at least when I was growing up). But at this point, you need to be intentionally ignoring the world to hold these views.
Ta-Nehisi Coates on how ignorant you have to be to come up with John Kelly's statement. And some other historians weight in, "During the interview, he outlined a view of the history of the Civil War that historians described as 'strange,' 'highly provocative,' 'dangerous' and 'kind of depressing.'" Since I speak academian, allow me to translate. They're trying to say Gen. Kelly is fucked in the head. "'It’s the Jim Crow version of the causes of the Civil War. I mean, it tracks all of the major talking points of this pro-Confederate view of the Civil War.'"
"The intensity of Trump’s frenzy underscores the peril in which the president now finds himself… Trump does not know what special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has uncovered; which witnesses are flippable; what financial documents have revealed about the Trump business empire… For someone who insists on holding all the cards and intimidating others, Trump finds himself in a uniquely powerless position." A Washington Post opinion piece about Trump's tweeting, and the brouhaha over the Clinton-Uranium-Russian non-scandal.
"Watch @JoyAnnReid produce, shred, & confetti the receipts when Ex GOP Spokeswoman Jen Kerns starts with the Hillary Uranium One conspiracy." This is exactly what journalists used to do. This is why it is important for at least journalists to be well informed and not just phone it in. (Grokked from a lot of people)
"A U.S. district judge in Washington, D.C., decided on Monday that trans members of the military have a strong case that the president's ban would violate their Fifth Amendment rights. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly granted a preliminary injunction to keep the policy from going into effect while the court case moves forward." On one hand I'm happy about this injunction (although it doesn't go far enough to cover all medical services transgender service people might require). On the other hand, as Commander in Chief the president has some authority here (no matter how heinous we believe the current resident of the White House is). However it's actually Congress that should stipulate the regulation. So there's a lot of Constitutional toe smashing going on here.
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