September 23, 2015

It Doesn't Matter Who the Guy Is or Was. He Is Not Running for Anything

I think by now most, if not all people at DU are familiar with Donald Trump and the Unidentified Guy Who Hates Muslims.
A talking point on the right now is that the guy was a Democratic plant sent to embarrass the Donald.
That somehow this guy must possess some great 'Aura of Disturbance' that trapped Trump, prevented him from properly stating how much he loved Muslims, but instead left Trump open to mockery and derision

Two facts about this are
1. Unlike McCain, Trump screwed up
2. It's irrelevant who this guy is or what his motives are

When asked the question he could have said the guy was wrong or that he disagreed with his comment and moved on.
Instead, being the churlish, not yet ready for real world politics ass-clown that he is he let the comment ride, even complementing the guy

If someone walks up to you and says something derogatory or slanderous about a group of people and you tell everyone how much you love the guy making the stupid, bigoted statement and people find out... guess what? That's your own damned fault. You agreed with it or at the very least never challenged him and certainly made it seem as if you shared the same opinions.

Donald knows (as a Presidential candidate and one man carnival freak show) he's always on camera.

Trump is correct, he isn't obligated to correct the man and his caustic statements.
But when you're running for the office of president people are allowed to expect more out of you than a typical Trump after-the-fact mea culpa of, "I love the Muslims." Kind of like he loves the Mexicans and the Blacks.

It doesn't matter who the guy is. The guy could have been Bernie Sanders in a mask or Obama's best friend from college or some Hilary supporter who saw his chance to embarrass Trump or a guy paid by the DNC. Hell! He may have been Jimmy Carter's grandson, the same one we were told gave the tape of rMoney's 47% gaffe that Faux News tried to spin as the real story.
It's irrelevant. He isn't important because he's not running for anything, he's just some guy running his mouth and saying stupid, bigoted things rooted out of fear.

Trump's handling of it is what matters. He's the guy who wants to be president, not the unknown guy.

September 4, 2015

So Kim Davis may not be able to cash in on Gofundme?

According to their site they will not let
Campaigns in defense of formal charges or claims of heinous crimes, violent, hateful, sexual or discriminatory acts.

Addictinginfo says they have checked the site and found nothing for her

I'm sure there is a site out there her supporters can exploit
Or maybe her husband will try an end around and make some claim and set up his own account at gofundme

September 4, 2015

Chiara Vigo: The last woman who makes sea silk

Silk is usually made from the cocoons spun by silkworms - but there is another, much rarer, cloth known as sea silk or byssus, which comes from a clam. Chiara Vigo is thought to be the only person left who can harvest it, spin it and make it shine like gold.

Villagers stare as I knock on the door of Chiara Vigo's studio, otherwise known as the Museum of Byssus, on the Sardinian island of Sant'Antioco. One sign on the door says: "Haste doesn't live here." Another adds: "In this room nothing is for sale."


snip

Then she hums a song with her eyes closed and fixes the bracelet on the girl's wrist. She reaches for the window and opens the shades to let the sunlight in and instantly the dark brown bracelet starts to gleam.

snip

Some believe it was the cloth God told Moses to lay on the first altar. It was the finest fabric known to ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, and one of its remarkable properties is the way it shines when exposed to the sun, once it has been treated with lemon juice and spices.


snip

The raw material comes from the glistening aquamarine waters that surround the island. Every spring Vigo goes diving to cut the solidified saliva of a large clam, known in Latin as Pinna Nobilis. She does it early in the morning, to avoid attracting too much attention, and is accompanied by members of the Italian coastguard - this is a protected species. It takes 300 or 400 dives to gather 200g of material.

link:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33691781

Just another reason to visit Italy. I'd love to see her work. It's kind of cool that she doesn't sell her wares. But she will make something special for special events like weddings and things

September 1, 2015

Oh Kim Davis, if you weren't such a theocratic, asshat, bigotted sponge this would be funny

Kim Davis the lazy, moocher who refuses to do her job while still getting paid had a worse day than many people know
1. She lost her appeal to the USSC for a stay. What made it particularly embarrassing for her according to SCOTUSBlog, was that her lawyers put forth all kinds of constitutional arguments, the Court turned her down without hearing anything from the couples suing her.
It's unusual and it doesn't bode well for Kentucky's most famous bigot (at this moment)

2. And this is funny.
According to courier-journal, Kim Davis gave a marriage certificate to Camryn Colen and his wife Alexis. Davis never asked to see Camryn's birth certificate. She only saw a man and a woman in love.
What Davis didn't know is Camryn is transgender and his birth certificate says female.

Poor Kim. Not been a good time for her.

“She saw just a straight couple in love, and she should see everybody like that,” Camryn said. “She shouldn’t just see straight couples like that.”

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2015/08/29/rowan-transgender-man-and-wife-got-license/71376626/

the interview was good
I am happy for them

August 31, 2015

Wide Receiver DeSean Jackson keeping it stupid

And you thought RG III was having it bad

DeSean Jackson instagrammed this little tidbit 'A woman who knows her place never loses her position.'
Now some people are defending him, like NY Giants Safety Brandon Meriweather, "I got to steal this one bruh." and New Orleans Saints Brandon Brower who deleted his post when he received a flurry of responses, most telling him he's an idiot.

Some have taken to defending Jackson by saying, "It doesn't mean what you're thinking. We're all misreading it."
Others say it's a joke. While others are defending him on free speech grounds.
I posted to one free speecher, pointing out that he had his free speech, now it's our turn to get ours in

It's being covered at sbnation
http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2015/8/30/9229821/desean-jackson-washington-nfl-sexist-instagram-post

August 6, 2015

Quick Quiz: Who was Planned Parenthood's treasurer in 1947

If you said Prescott Bush, you'd be correct
That's right... Jeb's granddaddy was a founding member of 'The Birth Control League'.
The name was changed in 1942 to Planned Parenthood because of the controversy of the name.
And when Bush ran for public office the name Birth Control League would have turned off a lot of Catholics
Prescott was PP's treasurer for their first national fundraising drive in 1947

Just a little tidbit of history

July 22, 2015

My letter to Sen Mark Kirk (R-IL) Iran Nuclear Deal

Mark Kirk is the Republican US Senator from my state

I got your e-mail and read your opposition to the deal. I can only say how disappointed and irritated I am at your position.
You seem fixated on making the agreement a political one in your opposition to the administration. In case you missed it, the deal was brokered and approved by the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia and China.

Do you have so little respect for our allies and the administrations of David Cameron and Andrea Merkel that you honestly believe they would agree to a bad deal with Iran? Do you really think so little of our allies?

I guess that question was answered when you signed that letter to Iran. For some reason, the signers assumed the leadership in Iran was ignorant of how US politics work, even though many of them were educated in the United States.

The position of many who oppose the deal seems to rest on their belief that PM Netanyahu is more knowledgeable than British Intelligence, German Intelligence, French Intelligence, Russian Intelligence, Chinese Intelligence and our own intelligence services. Let us not forget that PM Netanyahu said two decades ago that Iran would have a nuclear missile in a year - they didn't. That the invasion of Iran was a good ifea and would go well - it didn't. And he is again peddling that same rhetoric about Iran and a nuclear missile again. At what point do you stop listening to someone who is wrong on substantive issues?

Lastly, to use the editorial page of the Chicago Tribune to bolster your position is laughable. The Tribune is owned by the Ricketts' family. This is a highly partisan Republican family. The governor of Nebraska is a Ricketts. There is a hugely clear bias on the part of teh Tribune and it is not in support of the President.

Count me as unimpressed by your efforts and disgusted at your disrespect for our allies around the world.

July 14, 2015

If the Bible wasn't citing it, would you discriminate against gay people

I found the question on Pennlive.com.
Though the question appears to have been asked by a reader it is a good one
Love to hear what sanatorium, bush III (the third is almost always horribly awful), cruz and the rest of the anti-gay crowd would say

(That includes shadfly, fishman at the afa, and the rest of that rot)

on edit
http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2015/07/if_the_bible_wasnt_citing_it_w.html