The Daily Drift

Yeah, what he said ...

Carolina Naturally is read in 195 countries around the world daily.
 

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Today in History

1556		Henry II of France and Philip of Spain sign the truce of Vaucelles.
1631		A ship from Bristol, the Lyon, arrives with provisions for the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1762		Martinique, a major French base in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, surrenders to the British.
1783		Sweden recognizes U.S. independence.
1846		The first Pacific Coast newspaper, Oregon Spectator, is published.
1864		Federal forces occupy Jackson, Miss.
1865		The three-day Battle of Hatcher's Run, Va., begins.
1900		The United States and Great Britain sign the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, giving the United States the right to build a canal in Nicaragua but not to fortify it.
1917		U.S. Congress nullifies President Woordrow Wilson's veto of the Immigration Act; literacy tests are required.
1918		The Soviets proclaim separation of church and state.
1922		The Reader's Digest begins publication in New York.
1922		William Larned's steel-framed tennis racquet gets its first test.
1945		American and French troops destroy German forces in the Colmar Pocket in France.
1947		The Soviet Union and Great Britain reject terms for an American trusteeship over Japanese Pacific Isles.
1952		New York adopts three-colored traffic lights.
1961		The Soviets launch Sputnik V, the heaviest satellite to date at 7.1 tons.
1968		U.S. troops divide Viet Cong at Hue while the Saigon government claims they will arm loyal citizens.
1971		Two Apollo 14 astronauts walk on the moon.
1972		It is reported that the United States has agreed to sell 42 F-4 Phantom jets to Israel.
1974		Patty Hearst is kidnapped at gunpoint.
1985		U.S. halts a loan to Chile in protest over human rights abuses.

Non Sequitur

Gone In A Split Second

There are moments when a photographer knows that they have almost no time to take a shot - and that in a second the opportunity will be lost forever. Whether the moment is caught by skill, luck or sheer accident, the results can be breath-taking. Here is a selection of amazing photographs which capture a moment otherwise gone in a split second.

Understanding Curling

The Winter Games begin this week, and we look forward to becoming experts in such sports, as we do once very four years. Let’s see, there’s the skating events: figure skating, speed skating, and hockey. There’s all kinds of skiing and snowboarding events, and the sled races. Did I leave anything out? Oh yes, there’s that odd event that is played on the ice with no skates: curling.

Curling is some combination of bowling, bocce ball, billiards and chess — all on ice. Oh, and there's sweeping involved, too, so throw some basic housekeeping into that mix.

Tamara Keith of NPR went to a curling lesson at the Potomac Curling Club to learn something about the Olympic sport of curling, and lets us in on what she learned.

1. The ice isn't smooth, and the stones are quite specialized.

"It has a textured surface," White says about the ice, "and what we do is we spray water droplets on here to give it what we call a pebbled surface."

The pebbled surface helps the stones move on the ice. The stones are smooth and round, and squat like Saturn peaches, with handles on the top.

They're also quite specialized, according to instructor Joe Rockenbach: "The rocks are made of granite — a specific type of granite from Scotland. They weigh between 38 and 44 pounds."

2. The idea is to push the stone from one end of the ice to the other, aiming for the center of the "house," which looks like a bull's-eye.

"What do you think we call that? The button," says White. "Ever heard the term 'right on the button?' "

There’s a lot more to it, illustrated with animated gifs, at NPR. Take a short lesson, and you may find yourself following all the teams at the Olympics. The first rounds begin February 10th. 

Did you know ...

That cornered rats are very dangerous

That Iceland approaches 2% unemployment after letting the banks fail

Are you a psychopath?

If it were terrorism...

How President Obama Turned The Tables and Humiliated Roger Ailes and Faux News

 

It’s clear that Roger Ailes and Faux News had big plans for their Super Bowl interview with President Obama. They were going to use the biggest stage of the year to prove that the president is a failure. Instead, it was Obama who humiliated Faux News.
It was obvious from the first question that Faux News had a clear agenda for this interview with Obama. The interview got off to a horrible start when O’Really tried to zing Obama with the long since fixed ACA website.
This exchange set the tone:

OBAMA: — as I said, I don’t think anybody anticipated the degree of problems that you had on HealthCare.gov. The good news is that right away, we decided how are we going to fix it, it got fixed within a month and a half, it was up and running and now it’s working the way it’s supposed to and we’ve signed up three million people.
O’REALLY: I don’t know about that, because last week, there was an Associated Press call of people who actually went to the Web site and only 8 percent of them feel that it’s working well, working well.

It was typical. President Obama responded with a fact. The repugican ignored the fact, and talked about the way people feel. Right away President Obama put O’Really on his heels, and it was clear that the wingnut talking head was full of hot air and had no ammo. Things would only get worse for Faux News from this point forward. The question about why the president didn’t fire HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was supposed to make it appear to viewers that Obama doesn’t hold people accountable, but the president’s answer made the wingnut’s position look weak, and allowed Obama to continue to drive the message home that the ACA is working. It’s also at this point that O’Really lost control of the interview. President Obama was now driving the bus.
Obama destroyed O’Really’s whole line of Benghazi questions by pointing out that Faux News is keeping the conspiracy alive,

OBAMA: Bill, think about…
O’REALLY: That’s what they believe.
OBAMA: — and they believe it because folks like you are telling them that.
O’REALLY: No, I’m not telling them that.
(LAUGHTER)

It is always bad for Faux News when a talking head leaves the door open for a guest to talk about the misinformation that the network spreads. It is a disaster when it happens on national broadcast television during the Super Bowl pregame show.
The ultimate humiliation for Ailes and Faux News came when O’Really ventured into another favorite wingnut conspiracy theory, the IRS scandal.

O’REALLY: OK, so you don’t — you don’t recall seeing Shulman, because what some people are saying is that the IRS was used…
OBAMA: Yes.
O’REALLY: — at a — at a local level in Cincinnati, and maybe other places to go after…
OBAMA: Absolutely wrong.
O’REALLY: — to go after.
OBAMA: Absolutely wrong.
O’REALLY: But how do you know that, because we — we still don’t know what happened there?
OBAMA: Bill, we do — that’s not what happened. They — folks have, again, had multiple hearings on this. I mean these kinds of things keep on surfacing, in part because you and your TV station will promote them.

O’Really closed with a viewer letter about transforming America, that the president easily knocked down. He also admitted that he hadn’t been fair to the president by saying, “I think — I — you know, I know you think maybe we haven’t been fair, but I think your heart is in the right place.”
If you have read the book The Loudest Voice In The Room, this interview had Ailes’ fingerprints all over it, but the repugican propaganda master appears to be losing his touch. He has left behind the aura of frustrated wingnut everyman populism that Faux News was built on, and replaced it with far right conspiracy theories that mainstream America doesn’t believe in, or care about.
President Obama controlled this interview. The president put O’Really on the defensive, and used his conspiracy theory based questions to demonstrate that he and the Democratic Party represent the center of current American politics. An interview that was supposed to be ultimate Obama trap, ended up revealing why Faux News is a network that is only watched by about 2 million Americans.
Barack Obama blew up Roger Ailes’ plan, and humiliated Faux News. O’Really and Faux News will be puffing out their chests and claiming victory today, but this interview was a resounding humiliation for the interviewer, the network, and the old man in his bullet proof office who calling the shots.
Roger Ailes may run Rupert Murdoch’s wingnut 'news' channel, but it is President Obama who owns Faux News.

Paul Krugman Calls Barack Obama The Most Consequential President Since Reagan

 

On ABC’s This Week, Paul Krugman argued that although President Obama has been unable to get anything done since repugicans took over the House, “his first two years make him the most consequential president in — you know, since Ronald Reagan.”
Video:

Transcript from This Week:

STEPHANOPOULOS: (INAUDIBLE) best speech could you have?
KRUGMAN: I’m not sure. I mean, I thought that, gee, you know, this is a laundry list of small items, and I’m not interested. But people who, you know, pollsters tell me that actually the public likes laundry lists of small items. But probably because the public doesn’t have a sense of what’s small and what’s big.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And they support an increase in the minimum wage.
KRUGMAN: That’s right. That’s a list of a bunch of things that are popular, a bunch of things that, in fact, lots of repugicans support but the repugican cabal does not.
And so, you know, my view on Obama is basically he has been — in one sense, he has been a lame duck since November 2010, since repugicans took control of the House, he has been unable to get anything passed scorched earth opposition.
On the other hand, his first two years make him the most consequential president in — you know, since Ronald Reagan.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Health care and –
KRUGMAN: — health care and actually financial reform, which he didn’t mention, but it’s actually a much bigger deal than most people imagine. So just on the basis of what he has done, all he has to do is hang on there and create the appearance that he’s doing something and that’s his goal.

Krugman’s point was an extremely strong one. Most presidents don’t get one major reform done in a term. Obama accomplished two major reforms in his first two years. Is is still a little known fact, but President Obama accomplished 85% of his stated agenda for his entire presidency during his first two years in office.
By the time repugicans took control of the House in 2011, it was already too late. President Obama had accomplished almost everything that he intended. This is why House repugicans have been obsessed with rolling back everything that this president has accomplished. They got to the game too late, and have been left with nothing to do but unsuccessfully try to play catch up and repeal.
Barack Obama has been the most significant presidents that this country has had since Ronald Reagan. His accomplishments are likely to live on for generations. He has not only made significant policy changes, but his candidacy helped to change the make up and face of the electorate.
Even some of his supporters sometimes forget what this president has achieved. Krugman’s comments were a nice reminder that era of Obama will go down as a significant time in American history.

Democrats Hang Tough and Warn John Boehner Don’t Play Games With the Debt Ceiling

 

A letter from the House Way and Means Democrats is one of the first official warnings to John Boehner that he better not play games with the debt ceiling, because Democrats aren’t negotiating.
In a letter, House Ways and Means Democrats issued a clear warning to Speaker Boehner:

The tax filing season began on Friday, having already been delayed more than a week because of last fall’s government shutdown. Tens of millions of Americans are likely to immediately file their tax returns with the expectation that the amount they overpaid in taxes last year will be promptly returned. Secretary Lew has notified us that if Congress does not act quickly when we reach the debt ceiling on Feb. 8, the United States may run short of cash to pay its bills in just a few weeks – before the end of February. Under the current calendar, we have only eleven legislative days remaining before that deadline.

As Members of the Committee on Ways and Means, which has responsibility for our nation’s tax laws, we urge you to immediately put a clean debt limit increase on the House floor. The bill’s passage would ensure that all taxpayers receive their money back promptly and protect against an economically disastrous default on our nation’s obligations. Failure to act quickly will endanger our economic recovery and send a signal to American taxpayers that their refunds may be in jeopardy, potentially raising unnecessary panic among families awaiting their tax refunds (nearly 110 million refunds of $2,700, on average, last year).
President Obama and Congressional Democrats have been clear: we will not negotiate over the full faith and credit of the United States. Past Republican default threats rattled our economy and cost Americans hundreds of billions of dollars in lost retirement savings, increased the cost of owning a home, and cost us hundreds of thousands of desperately needed jobs. Let’s not add delaying tax refunds to the list. We look forward to working with you to protect American taxpayers.

Democrats aren’t going to play around with repugicans on this. Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and repugican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell have all been rumbling about needing to “get something” in exchange for raising the debt limit. Democrats already know how to defeat this tactic. President Obama and congressional Democrats have been successful time and time again by standing firm and waiting the repugicans out.
Boehner and company aren’t entitled to anything for doing their jobs. If the House repugicans decide to play games again, Democrats aren’t going to play along. Harry Reid and President Obama aren’t going to agree to changes in the ACA, or more cuts to social programs in exchange for raising the debt limit. It simply isn’t going to happen.
This letter from the House Ways and Means Democrats is another step in staking out their official position. Boehner and McConnell are going to get nothing, so don’t even try it.
The repugicans need pass a clean debt limit increase and save the dramas for their mamas. Democrats aren’t playing along.

Decent Economic Growth Hides The Increasing Gap Between the Rich and Everyone Else

As long as the wealthy continue benefiting from the President's economic recovery, repugicans will stay the austerity course that continues retarding growth …

This past week a bit of good economic news was overshadowed by phony outrage by repugicans bemoaning President Obama’s use of executive orders as well as the preponderance of evidence that New Jersey governor Chris Christie’s criminality is tarnishing his image as repugican’s savior du jour. The government released a report that showed that consumers fueled solid economic growth in the final quarter of 2013 that may seem like wonderful news, but it also exposed exactly what real economists warned repugicans their love affair with deep austerity and devotion to widening the income gap between the rich and the rest of the population would produce. However, a better than expected economic report cannot be overlooked and it is curious why repugicans or Democrats failed to use the economic report for propaganda.
According to some financial experts, the outlook for the economy brightened after the government said growth reached a 3.2% rate during the final quarter of 2013 on the strength of the strongest consumer spending in three years. The chief economist at Mesirow Financial, Diane Swonk, said “The economy showed real signs of momentum at the end of 2013. We are better positioned for decent growth for 2014 than we were a year ago.” However, even with solid growth in the fourth quarter, throughout 2013 the economy grew a tepid 1.9 percent, weaker than the 2.8% increase in 2012. The Commerce Department blamed 2013′s slow growth on federal spending cuts that began to take a toll on economic growth early in 2013.
There was another repugican spending cut in government spending last quarter, but it was due to the repugican government shutdown during October the Congressional Budget Office said reduced 4^th quarter growth by at least 0.3 of a percentage point. The CBO also said the sequester and austerity measures “shaved 1.5% points of total growth for 2013” and warned it would continue to depress growth over the next nine years the automatic spending cuts stay in place. The bipartisan budget deal reduced the sequester-mandated cuts for two years, but the deal only reduced the automatic cuts by one-third meaning Democrats were somewhat successful in persuading repugicans to accept slightly less destructive austerity. However, the consensus among mainstream economists is that the economy desperately needs the opposite of austerity in the form of much more fiscal stimulus.
Notably, the man who was Ronald Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers chief, repugican Martin Feldstein, called for more federal spending now to be offset in the future when the economy is stronger.  Feldstein epitomizes what it means to be a fiscal conservative and he wrote that the modest budget agreement will not produce long-term fiscal policy needed to achieve strong income and employment growth. He recommended that President Obama should propose, and Congress should enact, a five-year fiscal package that would move gross domestic product growth above 3% a year by focusing on direct government spending on infrastructure. Feldstein suggested a price tag to exceed $1 trillion over five years to boost the economic growth rate, but teabagger repugicans are stuck on severe austerity and as long as they control Washington, austerity will stay and Americans will slide deeper into poverty regardless a better than expected 4^th quarter holiday shopping season that benefitted big business and not the American people.
It is true that stocks are near record highs that is great for the wealthy, and the inventory-stuffed picture of economic growth for the fourth quarter looks promising for 2014, but a study by the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) shows that nearly half of all Americans are living in a state of “persistent economic insecurity” that makes it “difficult to look beyond immediate needs” or plan for anything other than more poverty. In simpler terms, too many Americans barely survive from paycheck to paycheck but that is not the end of the bleak picture.  The CFED calls economically insecure Americans the “liquid asset poor” and its report found that 44% of Americans are living with less than $5,887 in savings for a family of four.
A quick unscientific survey of 10 families yesterday revealed that none of them had any savings and their plight, like the CFED report found, is worse because the shrub-repugican recession ravaged many Americans’ credit scores to the point that 56% of Americans have subprime credit. What that means for more than half the population is that if an emergency like a car repair, hospital visit, or rent increase arises many Americans will be forced to resort to high-interest credit card debt or expensive payday loans that affects more than just lower-income Americans. According to the CFED report, a little over one-quarter of middle-class households fall into the category of “liquid asset poor” and their numbers are growing rapidly.
Geographically, most economically insecure people live in southern in states such as Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Alabama that have the highest percentage of financially insecure residents. They are also states burdened with the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) “right to work” for less laws that are strangling the economic life out of working families and increasing income inequality as corporations and big business reap the rewards of low wages. With repugicans in Congress disinclined to raise the minimum wage, extend unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed, and reject the President’s calls for job programs or funding infrastructure improvements to create jobs, the economic outlook for 2014 is not nearly as rosy as some economic experts contend.
What the “consumer driven” economic growth report did not explain was how many holiday shoppers increased gift purchases using credit cards, or why the employment report for December was less than incredible. With income declining among a large percentage of Americans, a preponderance of minimum wage jobs, and cuts to social safety nets like food stamps, housing and heating assistance, and millions of Americans losing their unemployment benefits, the fourth quarter economic report may be an aberration that will not carry over to 2014. President Obama is fighting an uphill battle to convince repugicans that income inequality, low wages, and tens-of-millions of Americans living in poverty is hampering real economic recovery where all Americans prosper because they could not care less about most Americans. As long as the wealthy continue benefitting from the President’s economic recovery, repugicans will stay the austerity course that continues retarding growth despite one 4^th quarter report that GDP ticked up to 3 percent.
It is important to remember that the Commerce Department, Congressional Budget Office, and every economist not working for the Heritage Foundation predicted austerity would take a toll on economic growth that bore fruit in 2013, but it still predominates repugican economic policy and Americans will continue suffering until austerity is rejected. Of course, repugicans are well aware their austerity is crushing the economic life out of Americans and that their wealthy donors are reaping the benefits of austerity that protects them from tax reform to close loopholes that only the rich benefit from. Closing loopholes would help fund the more than $1 trillion infrastructure improvements called for by fiscal conservative and repugican economic expert Martin Feldstein. However, repugicans are not about to make any moves that help the economy, or millions of Americans struggling with economic insecurity because as long as promising economic reports benefit their wealthy donors exclusively, they will cling to austerity because it kills jobs, increases poverty, and protects the rich.

Darrell Issa’s Agenda Outed As He Is Labeled a Pure Enemy Of The U.S. Postal Service

Darrell Issa has been labeled "a pure enemy of the Postal Service" because he is on a crusade to destroy the agency and hand it to private industry.  

Few Americans would argue that the American government does not have a fairly long list of enemies from around the world, but some of the government’s most dangerous enemies work in Washington and are on a crusade to take down the government. One part of the American government, the United States Postal Service, has elicited special attention from repugicans who boast they are “fighting Washington” as foes of the government, and on Friday slimy Darrell Issa was labeled “a pure enemy of the Postal Service” because he is on a crusade to destroy the agency and hand it to private industry.
The man who proclaimed Issa is a pure enemy of the Postal Service is American Postal Workers Union president Mark Dimondstein who was sounding the alarm over a pilot partnership between the USPS and Willard Romney’s old friend Staples, and warned it is a stalking horse for privatization. Dimondstein said “There hasn’t been a fight to defend the public good, and there hasn’t been a real fight around good jobs,” and said demonstrations outside Staples stores were the first of an escalating wave of protests to save the postal service. The pilot program is the USPS’s desperation attempt to stave off elimination by repugicans led by Darrell Issa who wants the 500,000 postal workers, and their union replaced with low wage retail workers and private delivery companies UPS, FedEx, and DHL.
The program gives the office supply giant authority to provide postal products and services while paying minimum wages that Dimondstein said is supplanting the responsibility of “postal employees in uniform, accountable to the people of the country and under oath of office, and fully trained to protect the privacy and the sanctity of the mail of the public.” Dimondstein acknowledged that the USPS is being forced to find the cheapest “labor doing all of those things instead” because the agency is under attack from repugicans who claim it is posting losses that are largely due to the absurd repugican law requiring the service to fund retiree benefits 75 years into the future. First, no postal employee will ever work for the USPS for 75 years, and second, the requirement demands funding for employees’ that have not yet been born, and third, repugicans make no such demand for any other entity that does work for the government; private or not.
The pre-funding requirement is an abomination that no company could survive, but that is the point of the repugican-passed 2006 law. Issa says he is not interested in destroying the postal service, but he is a liar. After the bipartisan budget deal stole government employees’ pensions, including military retirees, Issa proposed reinstating military retirees’ (only) pensions and paying for them by eliminating USPS Saturday deliveries. Issa continues to assert his primary concern is saving the profitable USPS, but making the agency pay for military retirees pensions repugicans just eliminated had nothing to do with “helping” the USPS. He was attempting to give UPS and FEDEX an inroad to take up what the postal service just lost. He cannot possibly claim his intent is not destroying the postal service when he, on the one hand, claims the USPS is unprofitable and then proposes stealing money from it to pay for reinstating military retirees’ pensions. There is only one goal for Issa and repugicans and it is handing over the postal service to private industry to destroy one of the few remaining large unions in America and eliminate 500,000 living wage jobs from the economy.
In 2010 Issa wrote in an editorial that the Post Office wants Americans’ money to protect its Constitutionally-mandated job because it asked Congress to delay requirements to pre-fund workers retirement for 75 years that would have prevented a $5.2 billion loss that year. It is worth repeating that the USPS would have posted a net profit of $600 million in 2013 without the pre-funding requirement. Issa claimed the USPS wants the American people to provide a “bailout,” and said that Congress has an obligation to fix the Postal Service’s budget imbalance not through a bailout, but through mandates to cut costs and revise labor agreements. Translation; cut costs by using private sector minimum wage workers that is the ultimate labor agreement revision. Issa said American taxpayers do not want to “bail out” the USPS because they cannot make a profit under the repugican pre-funding law, but he and his repugican cohort force American taxpayers to bail out, with subsidies, the highly profitable private oil industry, agricultural corporations, cults, and retail giants like WalMart and McDonald’s through low-wage subsidies food stamps and Medicaid.
The repugicans are out to destroy the USPS because they employ over 500,000 Americans, many of them Veterans, who all happen to belong to a union and earn middle class incomes. The USPS would not have to “farm out” services to low-paying retail corporations like Staples if repugicans did not pass a requirement that no company on Earth could survive. The repugicans knew the postal service would be profitable without the pre-funding requirement. One thing is certain, if it was a requirement they felt would help businesses, they would demand that cults, WalMart, McDonalds, the oil industry, and agricultural corporations that reap taxpayer subsidies while posting obscene profits follow the same requirements. The postal service is being singled out because workers make living wages, belong to unions, and are considered a government entity’s employees that put them squarely in the crosshairs for privatization repugicans are hastening by attempting to end Saturday delivery and completely phase out the postal service by 2022.
The repugicans like Issa want to drive the USPS into bankruptcy to turn over constitutionally-required mail delivery to private enterprises like UPS and FEDEX who donate heavily to repugicans. Destroying the postal service is the repugicans way of repaying the two private delivery companies for their continued campaign contributions, and as a special bonus they will decimate a half-a-million union jobs. Remember, repugicans want every American to work for minimum wage and join the ever-growing ranks of Americans living in poverty, and Dimondstein is absolutely correct that “There hasn’t been a fight to defend the public good, and there hasn’t been a real fight around good jobs.” Dimondstein said “The people, we think, will need to step up, and say ‘this is ours, and nobody’s going to take it away from us.” It is possible that the people will step up after a decade of repugicans taking everything away from them, and if there was ever a time to fight for good jobs, it is now when a half-a-million postal service employees are under assault from repugicans. All repugicans are enemies of the government, but the assault on the USPS’s by its pure enemy is, as Dimondstein said, “cynical and diabolical” but that is what Americans should expect from Congress’s slimiest criminal who was convicted of illegally carrying a concealed weapon, suspected of arson and stealing a car.

New Rule: Its Not OK To Call repugicans Racist, Even When They Admit To It

Earlier this week, Reince Priebus tried to punish MSNBC with a boycott for calling out repugicans on their racism.  The “boycott” lasted less than 24 hours, perhaps because a boycott would include appearing on shows hosted by their fellow Republicans Joe Scarborough, Chuck Todd and David Gregory.  After all, it isn’t like Republicans are lining up for discussions with Ed Schultz, Reverend Al or Rachel Maddow.
The real question is why do Republicans seek to boycott or otherwise condemn anyone for saying what their own elected officials freely admit?
Following the great 24 hour temper tantrum, a repugican lawmaker admitted that repugicans can’t garner support among their ranks for immigration reform because their people are racists.
Here are the exact words, courtesy of Buzzfeed, in which this anonymous repugican lawmaker made that admission while explaining repugican resistance to immigration reform.

Part of it, I think — and I hate to say this, because these are my people — but I hate to say it, but it’s racial,” said the Southern Republican lawmaker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “If you go to town halls people say things like, ‘These people have different cultural customs than we do.’ And that’s code for race.

One can claim that the fact this lawmaker wanted to remain anonymous makes the quote itself questionable.  Actually, it only confirms what everyone already knows.  There is racism within the republican cabal, but for the purpose of public consumption there are more correct ways to admit it than others.
The repugicans use racism to justify their stance on immigration reform, but also voting rights and other civil rights, not to mention social and economic policy.
It’s the wide spread racism within the repugican cabal that results in vehement attacks against someone outside the big white tent who challenge Sarah Palin’s lectures to African Americans on slavery.
Since everyone knows it, this is not about repugicans wanting to keep it secret.
In part it’s about trying to downplay racism within the repugican cabal by suggesting that nothing has really changed.  But also there’s a “correct” way to say it. Lindsay Graham illustrates the politically correct way to admit that repugicans are racist.

“There will always be people [who have] different reasons for opposing the change. We have a history in this country of demagoguery when it comes [to immigration]. You know, ‘Irish Need Not Apply.’ There’s nothing new going on today that’s gone on before. This isn’t the first time that there’s been some ugliness around the issue of immigration,” Graham said.

Yes, the newest “other” meets with resistance and hostility because of irrational fears that turned out to be contrary to the reality. That only confirms that racism and other forms of bigotry have a long history in the United States
The key thing is bigotry in any form is based on and exploits an irrational fear of change. Today’s repugican cabal is exploiting a fear of the end of white privilege and with it an exclusive hold on economic, political and social power.
That’s how we get the nonsensical rhetoric in which ridiculous terms like “reverse racism” are thrown around.  That’s why those who seek to eliminate affirmative action and destroy the Voting Rights Act are so determined to portray themselves as a white, I mean wide, tent who believe that racial minorities (also women) have the same freedoms as everyone else – as long as they know their place.
The repugicans are big on everyone knowing their place be it racial minorities, women, gays, the poor or Democrats.
Had Chuck Todd or Joe Scarborough sent out the “offending” tweet, would Reince have threatened to boycott MSNBC?  Probably not because it’s one thing for repugicans to admit the obvious, but it’s “disrespectful” if someone outside the big white tent makes the same observation.
In the end, repugicans complain bitterly when a Democrat calls them out on their racism but when a repugican says the repugican cabal is racist all you hear is crickets.
It’s not merely hypocrisy. It’s about having absolute control over thought and expression.

The religio-wingnuts Boycott Girl Scout Cookies Over Wendy Davis

The fanatical christian-wingnuts are targeting Girl Scout USA's annual cookie sales for a boycott because the group listed Wendy Davis as an incredible woman of the year.…

 

Dominionism is a tyrannical ideology advocating for christians to work toward transforming America into a nation governed by christians, or one governed by a wingnut christian who will enforce biblical law; it is theocracy. The underlying principle behind Dominionism is founded on theology requiring christians to rule over non-christians whether they like it or not and it is one of the greatest threats to America’s representative democracy. There are no bounds to where Dominionist believe it is their dog-given duty to rule over non-christians, and once again this year the fanatical christian-wingnuts are targeting Girl Scout USA’s annual cookie sales for a boycott because the group fails to adhere to anti-choice christian demands that Girl Scouts USA obey their biblical directives.
At the end of 2013, the official Twitter account of Girl Scout USA tweeted about a Huffington Post story about inspiring women who should be considered for the title of 2013′s “woman of the year.” Some of the women cited in a Huffington Post story were Beyonce, Malala Yousafzai, and Wendy Davis. The organization asked its Twitter followers which other women they thought could be added to a list of “incredible ladies” that sent anti-choice activists into biblical frenzy and drove them to call for a nationwide boycott of the annual Girl Scout cookie sales. Anti-choice groups do not want any American to enjoy delicious Girl Scout cookies because they claimed the Girl Scouts “endorsed” Texas state Senator Wendy Davis whom christian fanatics claim is a “pro-abortion” politician. More on “pro-abortion” later.
The anti-choice christians dedicated a new site to the Girl Scout cookie boycott and posted a statement saying “We’re asking you to boycott Girl Scout cookies in 2014,” and attempted to explain that Wendy Davis should not be lifted up as a “worthy role model for our children.” The groups leveled the same accusation against the Girl Scouts regarding Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius because she was included in a different news article about influential U.S. women the Girl Scouts shared on its Facebook page. The concept of “influential U.S. women” is anathema to wingnut christians whose idea of an influential woman is a barefoot and pregnant christian wife in subjection to their misogynist christian husband.
Apparently, the so-called “controversy” has been brewing for weeks since Faux News’ Megyn Kelly held a panel discussion over the Girl Scout’s tweeting about a list of “incredible ladies” for consideration of woman of the year. Kelly’s panelists suggested that sharing material about Wendy Davis, or even mentioning her name, violates Girl Scout USA’s policy to stay out of politics. The Girl Scouts did not endorse Davis, they only tweeted a Huffington Post story about influential women, but they did repeat Davis’s name and that is what inflamed Dominionists. The Girl Scouts’ so-called endorsement of Davis is hardly the first time the organization fell afoul of rabid anti-choice wingnut christians. The Girl Scouts national organization has been harshly assailed for its ties with Planned Parenthood over the past several years, and some wingnut christians propose that Girls Scouts USA actively promotes a “radical feminist agenda,” whatever that means.
Good christian fanatics know, and advocate, that girls should be taught from infancy that their place is in the home, silent, and in subjection to a christian wingnut man; the Girl Scout organization fails to adhere to, or teach young girls, those theocratic rules and  anti-women evangelicals want Americans to punish the girls who benefit from the cookie sales by boycotting Girl Scout cookies. The absurdly ridiculous idea that the Girl Scout organization promotes a radical feminist agenda prompted a wingnut preacher and radio hate talker advocating for the “christian subjection model” for females labeled the Girl Scouts a “wicked” group and “an agent of lesbianism.” It is unclear exactly what being an “agent of lesbianism” entails, but apparently it is the purview of fanatical anti-choice groups who regard anyone not promoting the “barefoot and pregnant” archetype an agent of lesbianism.
The truth is that the Girl Scout organization holds no official position on reproductive health whether it is abortion, rabid feminism, birth control, or lesbianism, and the group’s officials have repeatedly emphasized that topics related to reproductive health are best left for discussion between a girl and her parents. Wingnut christians disagree and have ruled that if there are any discussions on reproductive health it must be under the aegis of  religio-wingnuttery with enforcement handled by repugican men in state legislatures and Congress; not parents and their daughters. It is a portent of America under Dominionist rule.
Now, the idea that Wendy Davis, or any other American, is “pro-abortion” is a favorite christian anti-choice accusation against any man or woman advocating for a woman’s right to choose their own reproductive health. No-one is pro-abortion and it is absurd to accuse Wendy Davis of being “pro-abortion” when she has two daughters she obviously could have, but did not abort. The christian implication of pro-abortion is that advocating for women to make their own reproductive health choices is tantamount to crusading for every woman in America to engage in sexual relations, get pregnant, wait until the fetus is viable, and then abort it. Wendy Davis, pro-choice groups, reproductive health advocates, and human beings with a shred of cognition understand that women’s choice means each woman gets to decide for themselves when they start a family. Radical evangelicals anointed themselves to make that decision for all women and it drives the anti-contraception, personhood, and the anti-reproductive health cult to launch initiatives like boycotting Girl Scout cookies because they sent out a tweet asking for recommendations for women worthy of being woman of the year.
Dominionism has a stated goal of putting devout, bible-adhering christians in control over what they call the seven forces (mountains) that shape society including business, government, media, arts and entertainment, education, the family, and religion; and now Girl Scouts USA. Anti-choice christians have targeted the Girl Scouts as surrogates for Wendy Davis for her filibuster against restrictions on legal abortion the Supreme Court ruled were a woman’s Constitutional right of choice forty years ago, and obviously they believe boycotting Girl Scout cookies will cause pain and suffering to Davis. It is likely their boycott will do little to hurt Wendy Davis, but that is not their intent. Their goal is hurting Girl Scout cookie sales to teach the organization that failure to adhere to Dominionist dictates has economic consequences they better get used to because when christians finally do control the seven forces that shape society, Girl Scout cookies will be the least of Americans’ worries. Until then, this author is buying Girl Scout cookies like there’s no tomorrow.

Random Celebrity Photos

Scarlett Johansson

Missouri executing prisoners before appeals are exhausted

Missouri officials were so confident that Herbert Smulls' last appeal would fail that they executed him before the Supreme Court's word was in.

This was not an accident or some bureaucratic misunderstanding and did not come as a surprise to Smulls’ lawyers. They say it was the third straight execution in Missouri in which corrections officials went ahead with lethal injection before the courts were through with the condemned man's appeals.

One presumes that they're just being tipped off on verdicts before they're official, but that's not the case. One "alarmed" U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge said a prisoner was killed before they'd even finished voting. The Atlantic's Andrew Cohen seems to suggest that they're sending a message to the federal government:

What is striking here, though, is not just that state lawyers failed or refused even to respond to Smulls’ attorneys but that these officers of the court, and corrections officials, essentially divested the Supreme Court of jurisdiction by killing the litigant.

Man suspected of listening to takeaway orders then delivering empty boxes and stealing money

A bogus delivery driver is thought to be operating in and around Grimsby and Cleethorpes in north east Lincolnshire. The conman lurks in fast food shops, listens to telephone orders and then races to the address with an empty takeaway box. The first victim of the bogus delivery driver, who was tricked into paying for an empty box, was Hollie Belton, 27, of Grimsby, gave £12 to the man in exchange for two large chicken kebabs she had ordered from Verona's Pizzeria in Cleethorpes. But when he handed over the delivery he ran off, before fleeing in a yellow T-reg Ford Ka, leaving her holding an empty box. She contacted the takeaway in Hardy's Road, Cleethorpes, which provided her order free of charge after being told of the incident.

Takeaway staff recalled seeing a man acting suspiciously inside the shop, and it is thought he may have heard Hollie's order and address being confirmed over the phone. Owner Mostafa Majeed said that staff had noticed a man acting suspiciously in the shop earlier that night. "He was asked if he was waiting to be served and he said he needed time to look at the menu. He walked out, came back in and started inquiring about different things – do we deliver to Grimsby and what is the minimum order to Grimsby." The man left the premises for a second time and was seen getting into a yellow Ford Ka which was occupied by another man. Mr Majeed added: "All of a sudden we get a lady on the phone saying our driver has delivered a bag of rubbish.
"I replied to her that her order was still in the shop and was about to go out to her." Mr Majeed, who has owned the business since 1996, added: "We have never had such an experience before. I am sorry for the woman and if there is anything I can do to help catch this guy I will do it." The same thing is then thought to have happened to a Cleethorpes woman, who ordered from the Mariners takeaway in Grimsby Road, Cleethorpes. Mariners takeaway owner Carlos Keser said: "We had a guy on Friday last week come into the shop acting really strangely. He kept coming in and out of the shop. He asked for a menu and then picked one up. He then left the shop and came in again.

"We took an order from one of our regular customers and my driver who answered the phone took down their address. This strange man then left the shop and got into a yellow car parked outside with two or three other guys. About 20 minutes later I got a phone call from the customer wanting to know why I had sent her an empty box of food. I was shocked, I could not understand what had happened. Her food was on the side about to be sent out to her. After I realized what had happened I told her that I will send her food out to her and will not charge her. I think whoever is doing this is causing some real problems for takeaway businesses. It is going to make people think twice about ordering. It is very worrying." The man was described as about 29, with a pale, gaunt face. Police have confirmed they are investigating the incidents.

Man accidentally shot himself on way back from firearms safety class

A South Florida man accidentally shot himself in the leg while on his way back from a firearms safety class. The accidental shooting occurred at about 9:45am on Friday.

Boynton Beach police said officers found Eric Morkert sitting in the bed of his pickup truck with a gunshot wound to his right leg.

Morkert told police he'd just left a firearms safety class and had pulled over to inspect his new Glock 17. Morkert said he removed the magazine and was manipulating the slide when the gun discharged.
Paramedics arrived and took Morkert to Delray Community Hospital for treatment. He was expected to be okay. Police took possession of the gun.

Woman endured 18 hours with hand stuck under hood of truck

A 68-year-old woman survived nearly a day with her hand stuck under the hood of her truck in rural Clackamas County, Oregon, about 15 miles south of Molalla.

The woman was working on her truck at around 5pm on Wednesday when the hood came crashing down on her hand. She was trapped until 11am on Thursday.
"I've never seen someone with their hand stuck under the hood like that," said Chief Vince Stafford of the Molalla Fire Department. The woman suffered through cold, wind and snow flurries overnight.

YouTube link.

She was not freed until some neighbors on horseback heard her faint screams for help. "She was able to jog in place, is what she told paramedics," said Stafford. "Very, very tough lady and courageous." She is said to be in a serious condition.

Eiffel Tower nose surgery booms in China as students hope it will improve their job prospects

In a strange tribute to France's iconic monument, Chinese graduates are having plastic surgery to make their noses resemble the Eiffel Tower. With millions of young people encountering stiff competition to get on the career ladder that they are turning to plastic surgeons to transform their noses, supposedly into the shape of the Eiffel Tower.

“We are influenced by the beauty of Eiffel Tower, we are not content to just add something to the nose, we reconstruct it,” Surgeon Wang Xuming said. He carries out dozens of the operations each month. Students are willing to go under the knife because they are facing a ridiculous amount of competition when starting their careers.

According to the latest figures a record seven million students graduated from college in 2013. This comes as even China’s economy has been slowed down by the global economic crisis. Ads for the surgery are popping up everywhere. On one of the posters you can see a young western woman with light-coloured eyes and a straight nose, a stereotypical beauty, who is pictured with the elegant curves of Paris’s most recognizable monument.
But the €7,200 operation only leaves the patient with a nose that vaguely resembles the contours of the famous landmark. “It’s a classic monument, with an extremely aesthetically pleasing form, and we are trying to combine medicine with art,” an administrative worker in Wang’s practice said. “We hope this nose will become classic and will provoke the same feelings at the Eiffel Tower.”

Ziggy

You Shower Too Much!

You Shower Too Much!

How often do you shower or wash your body? Chances are, you probably bathe too much! Trace washes away some myths and explains why showering too often could be bad for your skin and your health.

When Do Childhood Memories Fade?

When Do Childhood Memories Fade?

At what age is your brain able to maintain memories so that you can recollect them later in life? Anthony tackles this question as he takes a look at some recent research on a phenomena known as childhood amnesia.

A Postmortem of the Most Famous Brain in Neuroscience History

The most famous brain in neuroscience? That would belong to Henry Molaison, who died in 2008. His curious relationship with neurosurgeons began in 1953, when he underwent brain surgery to relieve frequent chronic seizures. They removed part of his brain, which cured him but left him strangely incapacitated.  

From that moment on, he was unable to create memories of any new events, names, people, places or experiences. He also lost most of the memories he'd formed in the years leading up to surgery. In the most fundamental sense possible, H.M. lived entirely in the moment.

"At this moment, everything looks clear to me, but what happened just before?" he once said. "That’s what worries me. It’s like waking from a dream. I just don’t remember." Although he interacted with the same nurses and doctors day after day, each time he saw them he had no idea he'd ever met them before. He remained a perfectly intelligent, perceptive person, but was unable to hold down a job or live on his own. Without the connective tissue of long-term memory, his life was reduced to a series of incoherent, isolated moments.

For the rest of his life, Molaison allowed scientists to study his brain, which was scanned and recorded with every advance in medical recording technology. The ultimate measurements came after his death, when it was frozen and cut into 2,401 thin slices in order to create a 3D model. That model gave researchers new insights into Molaison’s condition. For example, they found that more of Molaison’s brain had been removed than they thought. These changes to the brain could give new insights into the anatomy and the process of creating and storing memories. Read more about the research at Smithsonian.

A 4,600-Year-Old Step Pyramid Uncovered in Egypt

4,600-Year-Old Step Pyramid Uncovered in Egypt

Archaeologists in southern Egypt have uncovered a step pyramid that dates back about 4,600 years.

Daily Comic Relief

Canada's weirdly recursive geography

Contained within the borders of Canada are: the world's largest island in a lake on an island; the world's largest island in a lake on an island in a lake; and the world's largest island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island.

Pitcher Plants Glow under UV Light to Lure Insects to Their Doom

Many carnivorous plants use tasty nectars, appealing scents and bright colors to attract insects into their traps. Scientists at the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute in India have discovered another method: tantalizing ultraviolet light.
Rajani Kurup, Anil John Johnson, Sreethu Sankar and Sabulal Baby discovered that the mouth of the Nepenthes khasiana plant glows under UV light. Ants find this color, which is almost invisible to humans under normal conditions, very attractive.
The researchers exposed these pitcher plants to ants in a field. Some of the plant mouths were painted with an acetone coating that blocks UV light. These painted plants attracted few ants, indicating that the UV emissions are essential to luring prey.

Horrific plague causes starfish to tear themselves to pieces

 

A mysterious plague has manifested in the world's starfish population, quickly spreading to several regions in which starfish (also called "sea stars") are found. Starfish afflicted with the disease tear themselves to pieces, the arms crawling in opposite directions until the animals are literally torn to pieces. Unlike healthy starfish, the affected animals are not able to regenerate after they are torn apart.
The disease is largely a mystery. Researchers who are studying it are asking beach-walkers to photograph any starfish they see to tweet photos of it with the #sickstarfish tag. Starfish are important marine predators; a serious depletion of their numbers will have far-reaching consequences for marine ecosystems.

BEN MINER: The experiments are infectiousness experiments, where we take individuals that have signs of the syndrome and we put them in tanks with individuals that don’t have signs.
KATIE CAMPBELL: Then they closely watch the progress of the disease. First, the stars twist their arms into knots, and sometimes lesions form on their skin.
BEN MINER: One of them was very sick, and the other two individuals started ripping themselves apart. The arms just crawl away from the particular body.
KATIE CAMPBELL: You heard that right. The arms crawl in opposite directions, until they tear away from the body and their insides spill out. And unlike most starfish, the arms don’t regenerate. Stars that came in with symptoms died within 24 hours.

Mysterious epidemic devastates starfish population off the Pacific Coast

Animal News

Dog Family Tree Traced Back 2 Million Years

Fossils for a scrappy, Italian canine that lived 2 million years ago are helping researchers to better understand the evolution of wolves and dogs.

'Devil Frog' May Have Sported Anti-Dino Armor

The devil frog was slightly smaller than previously thought, had massive spikes protruding from its skull, and a plate of body armor on its back.

New 'Swamp Monster' Skull Found in Texas

A toothy, long-nosed skull found in Texas belonged to a swamp monster that lived more than 200 million years ago.

Animal Pictures