Listen! That sound you hear is the shredding of the social contract. - Bill Moyers
Where is Nepal? Here (link to Google map; click for large map in new window). North of India, south of China (Tibet). Government less than stable.American al-Qaeda leaders killed in U.S. counterterror strikes
American al-Qaeda leaders killed in U.S. COUNTERTENOR strikes
Senators announced a compromise Tuesday that would move two long-stalled legislative items: a human trafficking bill that has been embroiled in a fight over abortion restrictions, and the confirmation of Loretta Lynch to be the nation’s first Black female attorney general.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had refused to bring Lynch’s confirmation up for a vote until the Senate passed the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (JVTA), despite Lynch’s undisputed qualifications and strong record on prosecuting human traffickers. The tactic enraged advocates and Black leaders, some of whom staged a hunger strike in protest.
McConnell said Tuesday that once the JVTA is passed, the Senate will move on to Lynch “in the next day or so.”
...
 |
| Lynch |
 |
| Pieklo |
 |
| Kennedy |
...
Researchers at Duke announced that their studies of Alzheimer’s in mice had thrown up a new process they believe contributes to the disease’s development.
How Alzheimer's disease manifests itself
They observed that in Alzheimer’s, immune cells that normally protect the brain instead begin to consume a vital nutrient called arginine.
By blocking this process with a drug, they were able to prevent the formation of ‘plaques’ in the brain that are characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease, and also halted memory loss in the mice.
...
The drug that was used to block the body’s immune response to arginine – known as difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) – is already being investigated in drug trials for certain types of cancer and may be suitable for testing as a potential Alzheimer’s therapy.
...
Salon's Dan Falcone and Saul Isaacson interview Noam Chomsky on the Middle East, Russia, and America's whitewash of its own war crimes
Clinton summed her long and colorful biography in cheeky fashion when she joined Twitter in 2013: "Wife, mom, lawyer, women & kids advocate, FLOAR, FLOTUS, US Senator, SecState, author, dog owner, hair icon, pantsuit aficionado, glass ceiling cracker, TBD..."
"GE Capital was a quintessential example of the rise of shadow banking. In most important respects it acted like a bank; it created systemic risks very much like a bank; but it was effectively unregulated," - PK
"Consider, for example, the remarks of a rather well known Republican leader, speaking in 1865 on the eve of the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox" - Peterr
"If CEOs are worried that their LGBT employees won’t be treated as equals in Indiana, they should show as much concern for their pregnant and potentially pregnant employees." - KP
[For Dick, an irony lesson... obviously unlearned - SB]
"It is a peculiar, but unmistakable, phenomenon: As Barack Obama’s presidency heads into its twilight, the rage of the Republican establishment toward him is growing louder, angrier and more destructive." - NYT [NFK - SB]
[And this man would be President? - SB]
[As any reasonable hope of Elizabeth Warren as the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate fades, I find myself looking for legitimate justifications for voting for Hillary, which in fact I will do in preference to pitching my vote into a third-party sinkhole. This article expresses a decent and substantive reason for such a vote. - SB]
DEA Secretly Tracked Billions of Americans’ Calls a Decade Before 9/11
While the Snowden-NSA revelations continue to shock Americans on a daily basis, and illustrate how intrusive the government is in our lives, and how casually it violates our Fourth Amendment right against unwarranted searches, it just got worse.
It turns out the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) was spying on Americans, gathering metadata on our phone calls, almost a decade before 9/11, and right up to 2013. With help from the U.S. military.
...
In an exclusive report, USA Today learned the U.S. government started keeping secret records of Americans’ international telephone calls nearly a decade before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, harvesting billions of calls in a program that provided a blueprint for the far broader National Security Agency surveillance that followed. The DEA spying only stopped, supposedly, in 2013, no longer needed due to the NSA.
For more than two decades, the Justice Department and the DEA amassed databases of virtually all telephone calls from the U.S. to as many as 116 countries “linked to drug trafficking.” ...
...
 |
| (or substitute GeeDubya Bush) |
Man Who Videoed S.C. Cop Shooting: I Thought My Life 'Might Be In Danger'
Feidin Santana, the witness whose video led to murder charges against a South Carolina police officer, spoke out on Wednesday for the first time since the incident and said that he was so scared he thought about deleting his recording.Is Santana's fear justified?
"I even thought about erasing the video," he said during an interview on MSNBC with Craig Melvin. "I felt that my life, with this information, might be in danger.”
...
(Updated July 2014)The remainder of that ACLU article explains what you should do if the police stop you from photographing, and special rules particular to video recording (hint: the video and audio portions may be treated differently under the law, although ACLU says that constitutionally they should not be).
Taking photographs of things that are plainly visible from public spaces is a constitutional right – and that includes federal buildings, transportation facilities, and police and other government officials carrying out their duties. Unfortunately, there is a widespread, continuing pattern of law enforcement officers ordering people to stop taking photographs from public places, and harassing, detaining and arresting those who fail to comply. Learn more »
Your rights as a photographer:
- When in public spaces where you are lawfully present you have the right to photograph anything that is in plain view. That includes pictures of federal buildings, transportation facilities, and police. Such photography is a form of public oversight over the government and is important in a free society.
- When you are on private property, the property owner may set rules about the taking of photographs. If you disobey the property owner's rules, they can order you off their property (and have you arrested for trespassing if you do not comply).
- Police officers may not confiscate or demand to view your digital photographs or video without a warrant. The Supreme Court has ruled that police may not search your cell phone when they arrest you, unless they get a warrant. Although the court did not specifically rule on whether law enforcement may search other electronic devices such as a standalone camera, the ACLU believes that the constitution broadly prevents warrantless searches of your digital data. It is possible that courts may approve the temporary warrantless seizure of a camera in certain extreme “exigent” circumstances such as where necessary to save a life, or where police have a reasonable, good-faith belief that doing so is necessary to prevent the destruction of evidence of a crime while they seek a warrant.
- Police may not delete your photographs or video under any circumstances. Officers have faced felony charges of evidence tampering as well as obstruction and theft for taking a photographer’s memory card.
- Police officers may legitimately order citizens to cease activities that are truly interfering with legitimate law enforcement operations. Professional officers, however, realize that such operations are subject to public scrutiny, including by citizens photographing them.
- Note that the right to photograph does not give you a right to break any other laws. For example, if you are trespassing to take photographs, you may still be charged with trespass.
First, debatable president George W. Bush attempted to control everything directly by executive order and appointments in his eight stolen years in office. Now that those years are over, his political heirs control everything through his judicial appointments. Unitary executive, then unitary judiciary... either way, the Rethuglicans rule. Got it? You think maybe the same conditions should apply to Obama's executive orders as to Baby Bush's? One of Junior's judges will inform you otherwise. Yes, it's being appealed
With time and various studies, this phenomenon looks more and more likely: poverty denies kids their literal intellectual birthright.
I can't imagine Child Paul making a credible presidential run, but I've been fooled before about what Repub's would or wouldn't do.
And remember, this article was published before the cop in SC shot an unarmed man in the back. Eight times. Killing him. On video, all set for the national news.
I never thought I'd live to see a day that I fervently pray each time I leave my home that I do not encounter a cop... even though I'm white. This cannot be allowed to continue.
 |
| UU Chalice |
...
Police say a gun went off at about 11 p.m. Saturday at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament...
Catholic
Cross
...
Jason Wagler was sitting with his fiancee at Mass and heard the gunshot.
...
"We were standing for a few minutes and just before the final procession started, the gunshot went off," Wagler said.
Interdenominational
Pistol
Wagler said at first no one seemed to know what had happened. Some people thought a speaker blew. But then he saw smoke. Wagler took several photos with his phone shortly after the incident happened.
"I immediately took a step back and was about to take cover. You never know if you're safe anymore in this world. It's a shame to know you can't go into church without having something like this happen," Wagler said.
Police say a man had a gun in his pocket and it discharged when he stood up. The bullet grazed the man's hand.
... newspaper reported the trigger caught on the man's pants and the gun's safety was not on.
"I noticed the gun was handed to another gentleman. He immediately concealed it in a white program, so I took pictures of the gun inside this program," Wagler said.
The man was taken to the hospital. Police haven't released his name.
It's unclear why he brought a gun into church. At this point, no charges have been filed.(NOTE: I believe that in this church the proper term for "program" is "disorder of service." But what do I know... like most UU's, I am not Christian... see the video linked above for a shot (ahem) of the paper in which the gun was hidden. - SB)
 |
| Oiled pelican - Deepwater Horizon |
When it comes to health care at the Supreme Court this year, all eyes are focused on the Obamacare tax credits case, King v. Burwell. But a case decided this week, Armstrong v. Exceptional Child Center, Inc., has raised significant concerns for the availability of quality health care for those who need it most.[/face-palm] Yes, that's our Supreme Court, all right.
In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court turned against decades of legal precedent and ruled that Medicaid providers cannot use the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution to stop state provider payment policies that are inconsistent with the federal Medicaid Act’s requirement for adequate reimbursement rates. That may sound like a bunch of legalese, but the outcome has a real impact on the 68 million-plus people relying on Medicaid. If a state’s Medicaid payment rates are too low (and many providers complain these rates are below their cost of providing services), then provider participation in Medicaid—and the ability of enrollees to obtain care—is at risk.
...
 |
| Dr. GOPer 'fixes' Medicaid |
Indiana Pizza Shop Still Raking In Money, Over $840K
WALKERTON, Ind. (AP) — A crowdfunding campaign for an Indiana pizzeria that came under fire after its owners said their religious beliefs wouldn't allow them to cater a gay wedding has raised more than $840,000.
Memories Pizza in Walkerton is closed indefinitely and its operators say they've gone into hiding.
...
 |
| Is this still true? Even in Chicago? |
|
|
Guarantee:
• Equal rights
• Reproductive rights
• Equal pay for equal work!
