November 8, 2017

His girlfriend was murdered on live TV, inspiring a run for office. Tonight, he won.

Source: CNN

Democrat Chris Hurst, whose girlfriend Alison Parker was the Virginia TV reporter killed on live television in 2015, is on track to unseat a Republican and win in House of Delegates District 12.

Over the past two years, Hurst transformed an emotional return to television in the wake of Parker's murder into a run for office. The murder, he wrote on his campaign website, "set me on a different path."

"My career in news was fulfilling, but instead of asking questions, I became focused on finding solutions."

https://twitter.com/ChrisHurstVA/status/913605721958359045


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/07/politics/election-2017-latest/?lf-content=224762552:lb-post-f30eddc4fb56561ecf3b0aa4c64da633@livefyre.com&hubRefSrc=permalink

November 2, 2017

The Colorado Walmart shooting sure looks like a hate crime to me.

The killer was a middle-aged white man. All of his victims had Latino surnames:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/gunman-kills-3-walmart-thornton-colorado-n816746

And of course, no condemnation of the shooter from Twittler. Indeed, the whole attack has gotten relatively little coverage.

October 31, 2017

Leaders, Baseball Fans Still Simmering Over Astros Player's Racist Gesture

The Dodgers are back in Los Angeles following their three-game road trip against the Houston Astros, and fans are still simmering over one Astros player's racist gesture.

With the Boys in Blue back in town, many Dodger fans and California leaders are airing their anger over what they see as a weak punishment for Astros player Yuli Gurriel, who was seen pulling the sides of his eyes while apparently mouthing, "Chinito" - a Spanish slang term translating roughly to "little Chinese boy" - after hitting a home run off the Dodgers' Yu Darvish, who is Japanese.
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Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred suspended Gurriel for five games without pay, but the punishment does not start until next season, with Gurriel allowed to continue playing in the World Series.

"We expected Major League Baseball to really step up and have consequences and accountability, and that didn't happen," said California Assemblyman Rob Bonta, who believes Gurriel should have been suspended for Game 5.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Leaders-Baseball-Fans-Still-Simmering-Over-Racist-Gesture-454184253.html

October 24, 2017

Wow, a man in the US Senate hall just threw Russian flags at Trump and accused him of "Treason!"

The reporters there are all saying what an unprecedented security breakdown this is.

A very auspicious start to Trump's lunch with McConnell.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/protester-throws-russian-flags-trump-inside-capitol-n813766

October 19, 2017

"You prefer soldiers who don't get captured. Do you also prefer soldiers who don't get killed?"

That is the gist of what Lawrence O'Donnell just said to Trump.

It brought my husband, a son of a vet, to tears.

October 2, 2017

Trump's Tweet Over Wasting Time Negotiating With North Korea Apparently Sent From Golf Course

Photo snapped of president Sunday at 10:40 a.m. at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, NJ:



President Trump was apparently golfing Sunday on his course in Bedminster when he sent a tweet taunting North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un as "Little Rocket Man" and announcing that he found negotiating with him to avoid nuclear war was "wasting" time.

According to his timeline on Twitter, Trump sent the tweets at 10:30 and 10:31 Sunday morning.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/914497947517227008

Minutes later, at 10:40 Sunday morning, a passerby driving on a road outside Trump's Bedminster golf course snapped a photograph of Trump swinging away on what appeared to be the 4th tee and sent the image to Patch.
...
During the 2016 campaign, and before, Trump repeatedly criticized President Obama for golfing.

"I just want to stay in the White House and work my ass off," Trump said last year.

https://patch.com/us/white-house/trumps-tweet-over-waste-time-negotiating-north-korea-apparently-sent-golf-course?utm_content=national&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social

September 21, 2017

Aaron Hernandez had severe CTE; daughter sues NFL, Pats

Source: ABC News

Tests conducted on the brain of former football star Aaron Hernandez showed severe signs of the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and his attorney said Thursday that the player's daughter is suing the NFL and the New England Patriots for leading Hernandez to believe the sport was safe.

In a news conference at his offices, Hernandez's attorney Jose Baez said the testing showed one of the most severe cases ever diagnosed.
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Dr. Ann McKee, the director of the CTE Center at Boston University, concluded that the New England Patriots tight end had stage 3 of 4 of the disease, and also had early brain atrophy and large perforations in a central membrane.
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CTE can be caused by repeated head trauma and leads to symptoms like violent mood swings, depression and other cognitive difficulties. Hernandez killed himself in April in the jail cell where he was serving a life-without-parole sentence for a 2013 murder. His death came just hours before the Patriots visited the White House to celebrate their latest Super Bowl victory.


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/aaron-hernandez-lawyer-brain-showed-severe-case-cte-50011241

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Aaron Hernandez was only 27 when he committed suicide. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Hernandez

A neuropathologist who examined the brains of 111 N.F.L. players found 110 to have CTE. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/07/25/sports/football/nfl-cte.html

It is now more plain than ever that playing football causes CTE and helmets don't protect you from the impacts, since the damage is caused by your brain sloshing in your skull from the sudden stop caused by the impact. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/football-helmets-concussion-protection/ https://www.ted.com/talks/david_camarillo_why_helmets_don_t_prevent_concussions_and_what_might/transcript?language=en

This is why I don't let my son play tackle football.

September 20, 2017

As number of injured diplomats soared, State Dept. kept Cuba attacks secret

Source: CBS News

An internal Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs document obtained by CBS News shows the State Department was fully aware of the extent of the attacks on its diplomatsin Havana, Cuba, long before it was forced to acknowledge them.

State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert only admitted the attacks were occurring after CBS News Radio first reported them August 9.

"It's baffling," said Phil Peters, head of the Alexandria, Va.-based, Cuba Research Center.

It's clear that the attacks are threatening to upend the delicate détente between the U.S. and Cuba.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/as-number-of-injured-diplomats-soared-state-dept-kept-cuba-attacks-secret/

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So who has motive to botch US-Cuba relations? Putin

Who is evil enough to do this kind of thing? Putin

Who does the Trump administration absolutely refuse to blame for anything, ever? Putin

Seems pretty obvious to me why Trump's State Department wanted to stay silent.

August 19, 2017

Helena, Montana, removes Confederate memorial

Montana's capital city on Friday removed a memorial to Confederate soldiers that has been in a public park since 1916 after officials deemed it a threat to public safety in light of last weekend's violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
...
Earlier this week, Native American lawmakers in Montana sent a letter to the city requesting that it remove the fountain, which they said stood for segregation, secession and slavery. The memorial is thought to be the only Confederate monument in the upper Rockies.
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The Helena City Commission agreed on Wednesday and acted swiftly to uproot the fountain from the park just two blocks from City Hall. Crews arrived shortly after 9 a.m. Friday. By early afternoon, it was lifted by crane onto a flatbed truck.

City Parks and Recreation Director Amy Teegarden said the fountain initially will be stored in a city warehouse.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/helena-montana-removes-confederate-memorial/

August 12, 2017

The Bernie Bros and sisters are coming to Republicans' rescue

By Dana Milbank (Washington Post)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-bernie-bros-and-sisters-are-coming-to-the-republicans-rescue/2017/08/11/caacbad0-7e9f-11e7-9d08-b79f191668ed_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-b%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.ea73dd40681c
...
President Trump is woefully unpopular, feuding with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and other Republicans. The GOP can’t manage to repeal Obamacare or do much of anything. Voters say they’d like Democrats to run Congress.

But here come the Bernie Bros and sisters to the Republicans’ rescue: They’re sowing division in the Democratic Party and attempting to enact a purge of the ideologically impure — just the sort of thing that made the Republican Party the ungovernable mess it is today.

Bernie Sanders’s advisers are promoting a “litmus test” under which Democrats who don’t swear to implement single-payer health care would be booted from the party in primaries. Sanders pollster Ben Tulchin penned an op-ed with a colleague under the headline “Universal health care is the new litmus test for Democrats.” Nina Turner, head of the Sanders group Our Revolution, told Politico this week that “there’s something wrong with” Democrats who won’t “unequivocally” embrace “Medicare-for-all.”
...
But to force Democrats to take some kind of single-payer purity oath would set back the cause. Democrats need to pick up 24 seats to take control of the House, yet there are only 23 Republicans in districts won by Clinton — and only eight of those were won by President Barack Obama in 2012. There are a dozen Democrats in districts Trump won. In such swing districts, it would be suicidal to pledge support for something Republicans will brand as socialism.
...

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Dear potential alerter:

This WaPo opinion piece is not an attack on Democratic public figures or groups, it is a criticism of STRATEGY regarding how best to win back Congress and get to universal health coverage. Much more facts and reasoning are presented at the link, but I am limited to 4 paragraphs in the OP. If you think Dana Milbank is wrong, please present your case in a reply so that we can have a substantive discussion on this important issue.

SunSeeker