Most
of us use credit to postpone reality.
Bought
And Paid For:
Saudi Arabia will chair “a panel of independent experts” on the
UN Human Rights Council. Saudi expertise in the area of human rights
comes solely from their long and bloody history of repressing them.
Only bribery or blackmail could possibly explain such an astonishing
insult to common decency.
Yes,
But: Secretary
Kerry says that the US will increase the number of refugees admitted
to the country to 85,000 in 2016 and 100,000 in 2017. Wait and see
what the GOPers say.
Parallel
Universes: The
Democratic wannabes talk about college costs, climate change,
workplace equality for women, addressing income inequality, improving
healthcare for all and expanding gay rights. The Other Guys talk
about abortion, bombing all and sundry, increased military spending,
lower taxes for the rich, rounding up immigrants and building a wall
along the Canadian border. Reality check: Voters mostly vote based
on how they personally perceive the economy.
Bastards:
Turing Pharmaceuticals bought the rights to market the 1950's drug
Daraprim and overnight raised its price from $13.50 a pill to $750
each. No new nothing, except price.
German
Engineering:
Engineers at Volkswagen designed software for VW diesels that gave
false readings on emissions tests. The EPA is not amused and wants
$18 billion in penalties and all 500,000 of the cars recalled and
repaired to conform to the emission standards laws.
Factoid:
The typical man in the US, assuming he has a job at all, earns less
today than he did in 1973.
Times,
Changing Yet Some More:
President Obama has nominated Eric
Fanning, formerly an advisor to the Secretary of Defense, acting
under-secretary of the army, previously the undersecretary of the Air
Force, deputy under-secretary of the Navy, and a long time openly gay
citizen. Guess what the Republicans would like to focus on in his
confirmation hearings...
Shoe,
Dropping:
After several months, authorities in Waco are finally acknowledging
that law enforcement officers shot at least 12 rounds into the
assembled bikers at the Twin Peaks restaurant. So far they have not
identified who the cops shot or whether the shots were fatal. Stay
tuned – we'll be shocked, of course, to learn that all of the dead
were victims of a police riot.
Per
Capita: The
British Secret Police are paying Muslims in Great Britain to rat out
their co-religionists. It was that sort of pay for play that led to
Afghans naming people they didn't like to the Americans, who forked
over cash while filling up the American torture gulag with mostly
innocent bystanders.
Child's
Play: A NC
teen is being prosecuted as an adult, charged with 5 felony sex
offenses for having nude photos of himself on his phone. It seems he
was exploiting himself. He was apparently caught during an
warrantless search of his cell phone and will not be labled a sex
offender for life. Avoid North Carolina if at all possible.
Dumb
& Dumber:
Two
Republican backwoodsmen think they have the power to exempt
Tennessee from following the Supreme Court decision on marriage
equality by declaring that "Any court decision purporting to
strike down natural marriage, including (a recent U.S. Supreme Court
decision), is unauthoritative, void, and of no effect." Their
cousins on the Alabama Supreme Court want
their 12 minutes of fame for ruling that Alabama does not have to
recognize adoptions made in Georgia, because lesbians... What part
of “equal rights” and “Supreme Court” don't these folks
grasp?
7 comments:
Re child's play. What I want to know is does he have evidence that he gave himself clear consent?
Re Saudi Arabia. Simulacra. Look it up. It's located next to Orwell and below Kangaroo Court. There's a picture of 2015.
Volkswagen should claim that like GM, it's helping the environment by getting rid of humans faster.
Hiring Shell's lobbyist to deposit money into the Presidential Library fund is another option.
A letter by someone I know to the Washington Post about the appointment of Eric Fanning:
Dear Editor:
President Obama's appointment of Eric Fanning to be Secretary of the Army is remarkable. But the appointment is remarkable not for the media headline that Mr. Fanning is openly gay (thereby joining the multitude of public servants who may or may not have been open about their sexual orientation before marriage-equality was the law of the land) but because Mr. Fanning possesses unique leadership skills developed through his long public service career. Mr. Fanning's unique skill set should allow him to implement innovation and change and lead the Army to more effectively address the needs of today and plan for the threats of tomorrow. President Obama reached deep within the sprawling executive branch and plucked a seasoned government executive with the skills to govern which is unusual for positions requiring Presidential appointment and Senate confirmation. Although the Post correctly noted Mr. Fanning's government service and unique expertise in the body of its story, it would have been nice if the story had given Mr. Fanning's background more prominence given the routine demonization of the federal government and its employees as Congress threatens yet another shutdown. Obama's appointment underscores that in order to face today's new challenges we need individuals with unique skills to govern and effectuate change. My own 30 year career in government, with half of that time, similar to Mr. Fanning's, directly advising five cabinet-level secretaries for my agency, has taught me that those individuals that are most often likely to succeed in delivering the benefits and services that American taxpayers expect and should demand are more often that not found by looking within. Hopefully our political leaders and others seeking leadership positions are taking note and such appointments may become routine.
RE "Dumb & Dumber": And yet I'd wager $$ that any one of these characters would immediately trot-out the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution if ANY state attempted, or even mentioned, gun control. Typical hypocrisy from the wingnut side of the Republican party. So in this instance why don't we follow the Republican dirty tricks playbook, let's immediately label them as traitors, call for an investigation of their business connections, friends, relatives and so on - since they clearly no longer support the U.S. Constitution.
No, Democrats and Republicans aren't talking about the same country. They're both lying about the same country.
18 billion for 500,000 cars that had a fault that didn't kill anyone outright. How many faulty ignition switches? And was that fine comparable? Not by orders of magnitude. Oh, I forgot; GM was owned by the American people during much of the tragedy, VW is not.
Anon: I'd expect that Volkswagen killed a lot more people than did GM. Estimates are an extra 1 M tons of 2.5n class particulates were released, and due to the indirect nature of the act of being poisoned, its much harder to win direct justice -- thus all the more reason to crack down even harder on VW.
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