Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Still on the mend

Hey, all -

I'm still recovering after the whopper of a cold I got in the Big City. Oi. At least I am feeling better and better.

Still not well enough to write a lengthy intro to this post...all I can say is come for the star banners and stay for the m00vies!

As always...

Don't forget to read Dot Calm's shadow's favorite independent sources of news and information:

Daily Kos
AlterNet
Democracy Now!
Conservatives are Destroying our Future
Conservative Clown Car
Americans Against the Republican Party
Americans Against the Tea Party
Mrs. Betty Bowers
God, the Good Lord Above

...And, whatever you do,
VOTE BERNIE!!!!!

If at all possible, send him a buck o' five.
Especially now that Hillary won in NY.
 
Don't forget to hug and kiss your loved ones today, and please be good to yourselves because I'd give all of you a chocolate-frosted, chocolate-filled, chocolate Pop Tart right now if I could...toasted all perfectly...flaky and slightly browned crust on the outside and molten warm fudgy gooey goodness on the inside. Yum!

- Dot Calm's shadow 
 
********************************************
ATTENTION, REPUBLICANS!
Obama is coming
for your guns 'n' Bibles
November 8, 2016.
DO NOT
LEAVE YOUR HOUSE
THAT DAY
FOR ANY REASON!
The rights you save
may be your own!
********************************************
 
Petitions!
 
CREDO action
Tell President Obama: Block the biggest GMO-chemical merger in history
The petition to President Obama reads:
"The unprecedented merger of ChemChina and Syngenta will put much of American and global food production in the hands of a single major multinational corporation. Block this proposed merger and protect our food system."
Add your name:
Sign the petition ►
 
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CREDO action
Tell members of the Internet Association: Disavow endorsement of the TPP
Tell members of the Internet Association:
“Publicly disavow the Internet Association’s endorsement of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. Stand up for the rights of your users and a free internet.”
Add your name:
Sign the petition ►

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Petitioning Alaska Governor

Stop Fracking the Kenai



Petition by Mary McCarthy
Kenai Peninsula, United States
2,093
Supporters




In June of 2016, Blue Crest Energy of Texas will start hydro fracking off the coast of Anchor Point, Alaska. There are enormous risks to hydro fracking in any sensitive environment but in the Cook Inlet and on the Kenai Peninsula, which is a seismic zone and which depends on a healthy fisheries environment, fracking is very risky. The risks to the tourism industry, fishing industry and home owners in general on the Peninsula are very serious. In Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas there have been documented instances of water pollution, air pollution, increased health consequences to humans and animals and increased earthquake activity in areas that were not seismic prior to fracking. For these reasons we are asking that the State of Alaska put a moratorium of three years on hydro fracking on the Kenai Peninsula and in the Cook Inlet. We are asking for a public debate and publicly vetted research on the potential consequences of fracking in the Cook Inlet and on the Kenai Peninsula.

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CREDO action
Tell the Treasury Department: Investigate U.S. links in the Panama Papers
Petition to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew:
"Exercise your full authority to investigate whether any U.S. or U.S.-linked company or person involved with Mossack Fonseca may have facilitated money laundering, terrorist financing, or other illegal activity, including with any U.S.-designated persons."
Add your name:
Sign the petition ►

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Just Foreign Policy


Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) have introduced legislation to prevent the U.S. from continuing to support Saudi-led military campaigns in places like Yemen where Saudi Arabia’s year-long campaign has led to a devastating humanitarian crisis and a security vacuum that has empowered our terrorist enemies al Qaeda and ISIS. The Murphy-Paul bipartisan legislation will require the President to formally certify that the government of Saudi Arabia is demonstrating an ongoing effort to target terrorist groups, minimize harm to civilians, and facilitate humanitarian assistance before Congress can consider the sale or transfer of air-to-ground munitions to Saudi Arabia.

Urge Sen. Mark Warner to co-sponsor the Murphy-Paul bill by calling their office now at (202) 224-2023. When you reach a staffer, you can say something like:
"The civil war we’ve supplied in Yemen is prolonging human suffering in Yemen and aiding groups that are intent on attacking us. I urge you to support the Murphy-Paul bill to place new conditions on U.S. military aid to Saudi Arabia."
When you've made your call, please report it here.

And if you haven't signed our petition at MoveOn yet, you can do that here.

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CREDO action
Tell President Obama: Block the biggest GMO-chemical merger in history
The petition to President Obama reads:
"The unprecedented merger of ChemChina and Syngenta will put much of American and global food production in the hands of a single major multinational corporation. Block this proposed merger and protect our food system."
Add your name:
Sign the petition ►

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This is absurd: The Missouri state legislature is demanding the confidential patient information of every woman who has had an abortion in their state for the past six years. They want it so badly, they're threatening to hold a Planned Parenthood official in contempt or even send her to JAIL for not complying.1

Send a message to the Missouri state legislature RIGHT NOW and representatives from our Missouri affiliate will deliver your comments at the statehouse on Monday.

Imagine what this turnover of documents would mean: The private medical decisions of millions of women would be made public without their consent.

It's up to each and every woman if, when and how she wants to discuss her abortion—but the Missouri legislature would happily take away that autonomy as part of a baseless witch hunt.

At the center of this story is Mary Kogut, the CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, who Missouri officials have subpoenaed for documents. And since Mary's clinic is the last one left in the entire *state* of Missouri, that means turning over six years' worth of patient information that includes women from across the state.2

She's refusing to comply, but now the legislature wants her to show up at the statehouse on Monday, April 25 to explain why she shouldn't be thrown in jail.

Click here to tell the Missouri state legislature how outrageous and offensive this is. 

NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri will take your response to the statehouse on Monday to show Mary Kogut we stand with her and all women as she faces off against these ridiculous anti-choice attacks.

Women who access abortion care shouldn't ever have to keep their identities secret for fear of violence or retaliation for their personal medical decisions. But we live in a climate where anti-choice violence is all too common—against clinics, doctors, and patients. And it's worth noting that anti-choice legislators who trump up false, inflammatory rhetoric about abortion—like the Missouri state legislators—contribute to this environment.

That's why it's vastly irresponsible to subpoena that information as part of an unnecessary, baseless investigation of Planned Parenthood. Twelve states have investigated the nation's most trusted provider of women's health care so far and found nothing. What more does Missouri want?!

Thank you for sharing your voice with us, and for everything you do for reproductive freedom.

Ilyse Hogue
President, NARAL Pro-Choice America


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Al Franken - U.S. Senator, Minnesota

Republicans push to keep transgender people from changing restrooms
--MPR News, 3/23

Progress isn’t always a straight line. North Carolina and Mississippi just reminded us of that.

The Republican leaders of those states just signed two measures that, effectively, enshrine discrimination against LGBT people into state law.

Make no mistake, attempts to pass blatantly discriminatory measures are not confined to North Carolina or Mississippi. In fact, Minnesota Republicans are pushing their own version of North Carolina’s so-called “bathroom bill.” This wave of anti-LGBT legislation is rising across the country, and it’s time for all of us to stand up and speak out against state-sanctioned discrimination.

LGBT Americans deserve equality under the law. Add your name to mine and speak out against LGBT discrimination.

I’ve been fighting for protections for LGBT students for a long time. That was and still is an important area of concern -- but these broad new laws in North Carolina and Mississippi can’t be ignored.

These are sweeping new laws. In North Carolina, the new law forbids cities and towns from enacting their own anti-discrimination policies. In Mississippi, the new law sanctions various types of discrimination against LGBT people.

No one deserves to be discriminated against for who they are. Sign our petition and speak out against anti-LGBT legislation.

Thank you,

Al

Al Franken for Senate
 
********************************************
Deport 
Rafael "BUSTed" Cruz
NOW!
A la Johnnie Cochran,
"If you cannot abort,
you must deport!"
-- Dot Calm's shadow
********************************************
 
Democracy Now!


On Tuesday, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton each scored decisive victories in New York, moving both candidates closer to becoming their respective ... Read More →

Tuesday's voting in the New York primary was marked by chaos, particularly in Brooklyn, as tens of thousands of voters found their names had been removed from the ... Read More →

On Sunday, Brazil's lower house of Congress voted 367 to 137 to start impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff. Early next month, Brazil's Senate will vote ... Read More →

Headlines →

 

Voters head to the polls today in New York for both the Democratic and Republican primary in one of the most closely watched races of the election. But millions of New ... Read More →

The Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in what's being called the most significant immigration case in decades. The case pits the Obama administration against ... Read More →

Journalist and immigrant rights activist Jose Antonio Vargas was also in the Supreme Court during Monday's oral arguments in the case, United States v. Texas. The ... Read More →

Last week, Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe proposed reopening a U.S. military base in Puerto Rico as Congress considers legislation to address Puerto Rico's debt crisis. ... Read More →

As North Carolina and Mississippi have passed sweeping anti-LGBT laws, with similar measures under consideration elsewhere, we look at a landmark law Utah passed last year ... Read More →

On Monday, the 100th Pulitzer Prizes were announced, and Puerto Rican composer, director and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda won the Pulitzer for best drama for the Broadway ... Read More →

Utah State Senator Jim Dabakis is part of a group of people seeking to buy The Salt Lake Tribune in order to prevent the Mormon Church from taking control of the major ... Read More →

Headlines →

 
********************************************
In Ted Cruz's mentality,
dildos = bad
rape babies = good
********************************************
 
Daily Kos
 
  • Imperial Wizard of Georgia KKK dies after shootout with police
  • Cartoon: Paul Ryan's latest ad
  • Ben & Jerry arrested at the U.S. Capitol, their reason is better than their ice creams
  • Sign the petition: I agree with Hillary: America is already great. sponsored
  • Judge holds public defender in contempt for doing his job
  • Texas man is trying to marry his laptop in order to end gay marriage
  • Dozens of Texas Republican conventions pass resolutions advocating for secession from 'Merica
  • GOP turns its back on Brownback
  • Afro-Mexicans: No longer 'erased'
  • Student gets booted from Southwest Airlines flight for speaking in Arabic
  • Sign if you agree with the Democratic Governors Association: Voting should be easier—move Election Day to a weekend. sponsored
  • Tennessee police arrest kids ages 6-10 yrs old at school for not stepping in to stop a fight off-property
  • Cartoon: Still more primary phenomena
  • 'Confirmation' returns to a watershed moment for the debate over sexual harassment in the workplace
  • The Secret Service is keeping its eye on Black Lives Matter as Republican National Convention nears
  • Does single payer/Medicare for All sound good now?
  • Cecile Richards: 'A woman voting for Ted Cruz is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders'
  • Rev. William Barber removed from American Airlines flight
  • Free college tuition activist wipes the floor with Fox News during live interview
  • Rev. William Barber removed from American Airlines flight
  • Angry Trump supporters storm out of Georgia GOP convention, take the American flag with them
  • Mike Huckabee and Martin O'Malley threaten the U.S. with worst bipartisan idea
  • Sign if you agree with Everytown: Congress should not backtrack on President Obama’s common sense gun measure which will help save lives. sponsored
  • A Missouri mom shot her 2-year-old son when he 'startled' her, Pennsylvania father shot 4-year-old while playing
  • Georgia lawmaker arrested—nearly 2x speed limit, 3x alcohol limit, 4 juveniles in car, .45 gun on hip
  • Despite unanimously passing, Florida governor vetoes bill aimed at helping poor and rural residents
  • Unarmed man paralyzed by police awarded $32M, sheriff wants settlement dismissed because of 'race'
  • No clever title for a story this powerful or sad
  • Cartoon: The Republican house of horrors
  • An extreme minority is using fear and intimidation to target women and medical professionals across the country. Join NARAL in calling on the DOJ to investigate clinic violence as terrorism. sponsored
  • McDonald's CEO gets 368 percent raise for coming up with All Day Breakfast
  • Free college tuition activist wipes the floor with Fox News during live interview
  • Arguing with the right wing: Recognizing their five new favorite fallacies
  • The government is not a person and the national debt is not a crisis
  • A frank conversation with co-founder of the 'Bernie or Bust' movement
  • Hillary Clinton wanted to regulate Wall Street before the crash, and has concrete plans to do it now
  • A Hillary Clinton-Goldman Sachs 'Wall Street' speech has been released
  • Rush Limbaugh's contract is up, his benefactors are broke, and his audience 'toxic.' Next?

  •  
    ********************************************
    Know why Ted Cruz
    wants to ban dildos?
    He hates competition!
    -- Dot Calm's shadow
    ********************************************
     
    AlterNet 

    By Vijay Prashad, AlterNet
    There's a reason we're suddenly talking about 9/11 all over again.  READ MORE»

    By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet
    Sanders briefly left the campaign trail to recharge in Vermont after losing to Hillary Clinton in the New York primary. READ MORE»

    By Jack Mirkinson, Salon
    The New York primary was a reminder that these systems are run by self-interested parties and that voting laws taint the results. READ MORE»

    By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet
    Charges include tampering with evidence and willful neglect of office. READ MORE»

    By Medea Benjamin, AlterNet
    He can save lives and help ease religious tensions in the region.  READ MORE»

    By Marlena Fitzpatrick García, AlterNet
    Mexicans can already possess up to five grams of pot without breaking the law. READ MORE»

    By Heather Digby Parton, Salon
    The media's spent weeks forecasting doom for the Trump campaign. Winning as expected in New York doesn't change anything. READ MORE»

    By Samantha Cowan, TakePart
    The trending hashtag #WhenIWas shows that harassment and violence often begin at a young age. READ MORE»

    By David Bienenstock, Plume/Penguin
    Long before it was a thriving industry, marijuana was a a social justice cause. READ MORE»

    By Rachel Cernansky, Ensia
    As demand for African and Asian tree-based superfoods grows, researchers and entrepreneurs eye ways to maximize benefits for ecosystem health. READ MORE»

    By Bob Cesca, Salon
    It's the ballot referendum of Donald Trump's dark, twisted dreams: A (totally unconstitutional) ban on abortions. READ MORE»

    By Bethania Palma Markus, Raw Story
    He was well-known as a KKK member in the community. READ MORE»
    By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet
    Both frontrunners are pulling it in at the 60 percent number. READ MORE»

    By Martha Rosenberg, AlterNet
    Dr. Harry Haroutunian discusses the dangers of overmedicating older adults.  READ MORE»

    By Sarah Lazare, AlterNet
    Cruz has made policing of Muslims a centerpiece of his campaign, but he won’t listen to what they have to say. READ MORE»

    By Rick Perlstein, The Washington Spectator
    The events that shaped Donald Trump's politics, and how he gained power.  READ MORE»

    By Ijeoma Oluo, The Establishment
    #29: Everybody who has ever used the phrase "American values" without irony.  READ MORE»

    By Amanda Marcotte, Salon
    Limbaugh's radio show is on the rocks and his station is bankrupt, but the right will survive when he's gone. READ MORE»

    By Neal Pollack, Raw Story
    They could have just mellowed out, but no... READ MORE»

    By Justin Miller, The American Prospect
    Recent workplace actions highlight two different strategies for worker gains, and the central challenges that they both bring to the labor movement. READ MORE»

    By Ken Ilgunas, Penguin Group (USA)
    We’re at the point when we’re supposed to act, but signing another online petition, changing to a more efficient lightbulb and joining a march doesn’t feel like enough. READ MORE»

    By Sarah Lazare, AlterNet
    A tempest over a difference of an average of 88 cents.  READ MORE»

    By John Amato, Crooks and Liars
    His beliefs would send America back to the 1940s.  READ MORE»

    By Susan Scutti, Medical Daily
    New research is hastening the psychedelic's surge toward therapeutic uses.  READ MORE»

    By Marlena Fitzpatrick García, AlterNet
    Black and Latinos are more likely to get traffic citations, with spiraling consequences when they can't pay fines. READ MORE»

    By Annie Waldman, ProPublica
    Twelve attorneys general called on the federal Department of Education to revoke the recognition of the quasi-regulator. READ MORE»

    By Zach Schonfeld, Newsweek
    Some admire his tirades against PC culture, others his business skills, and some are just looking for extra publicity.  READ MORE»
    By Robert Reich, RobertReich.org
    Bernie's idea to tax financial speculation is right on the money, and not even radical. What gives? READ MORE»

    By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet
    AlterNet spoke with Democrats who voted in today's primary. READ MORE»

    By Kali Holloway, AlterNet
    They're a lot less angry and rude than the Trump panel was.  READ MORE»

    By Heather Digby Parton, Salon
    Trump's win tonight in the NY primary makes all the sense in the world, and not just because it's his home state. READ MORE»

    By Kali Holloway, AlterNet
    The ice cream makers were among a massive group of peaceful protesters when they were arrested. READ MORE»

    By Karen J. Greenberg, Tom Dispatch
    The military and congress remain committed to preserving a terrible relic of the Bush presidency.  READ MORE»

    By Janet Allon, AlterNet
    Actually, Sheila Butt is one of the worst people anywhere. READ MORE»

    By Kali Holloway, AlterNet
    The measure isn't intended to ban porn, just to let you know how "hazardous" it is.  READ MORE»

    By Jen Sorensen, AlterNet
    Just because he's not Donald Trump doesn't mean he's not a threat.  READ MORE»

    By Rutger Bregman, The Correspondent
    "It's what capitalism ought to have been striving for all along," writes author Rutger Bregman about the money for nothing policy. READ MORE»

    By Max Willens, International Business Times
    Gov. Thomas Wolf signed the bill Sunday. Parts of it go into effect immediately, providing relief for the families of epileptic children.  READ MORE»

    By David Edwards, Raw Story
    Ummm, we're guessing not a whole lot. READ MORE»
    Deanna Othman, AlterNet
    Why is a major airline treating Arabic as the language of terror? READ MORE»

    Laurie Levy, AlterNet
    These tests have become the performance review of childhood. READ MORE»

    Ari Rabin-Havt, Salon
    Misinformation spreads rapidly—and intentionally—in right-wing echo chambers. Here's how they do it. READ MORE»

    By Melissa J. Ferguson, The Conversation
    Studies show hard it is to get past first impressions.  READ MORE»

    By Robin Scher, AlterNet
    In 2007, Cruz's team of legal beagles produced a 76-page rationale in support of a law prohibiting the sale of dildos. READ MORE»

    By Sarah Smith, ProPublica
    We took a look back at Bernie Sanders’ career through accountability stories and other in-depth news reports. READ MORE»

    By Sarah Lazare, AlterNet
    Clinton brazenly compares BDS movement for human rights with the Pharaoh. READ MORE»

    By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet
    "The threat is that the public will know what the government is up to."  READ MORE»

    By Carrie Weisman, AlterNet
    Those in the BDSM community see a direct link between sex and spirituality.  READ MORE»

    By Nicole Paquette, AlterNet
    Alaskan wildlife are on the threshold of gaining important new protections on specially designated federal public lands. READ MORE»

    By Neal Gabler, Moyers & Company
    The media are aiding and abetting a national disgrace. READ MORE»

    By Little Bear Schwartz, The Establishment
    It took a toll on my confidence, my sexuality and my psyche.  READ MORE»

    By David Edwards, Raw Story
    The bullet reportedly struck just inches from the 15-year-old girl’s neck. READ MORE»
     
    ********************************************
    According to the Bible,
    women are the property of men.
    They belong to their fathers
    before they are married,
    and they belong
    to their husbands
    after they are married.
    Christians want to use
    their religion
    to make life choices
    for all women...
    meaning that
    Christians demand ownership
    of all women,
    married
    or Christian
    or not.
    ********************************************
     
    Movie time!
     
    I think Philhellenes is brilliant. And I think he's right: the stars are on our side. Christians and Muslims worship a tiny, petty, pissy God. When you remember that Jesus was a false prophet...who's supposed to have been omniscient because He and God "are one" but who clearly claimed not to know and who failed to foretell His own return...and when you remember that He promised to return before all within earshot died but [crickets]...well, then, I can't see any reason to be a-skeered of Him or His followers or any of their idle threats. Can you? Ooh-ooh, Mr. Kotter...why are you trashing Christianity but not Islam, ooh-ooh? It's quite alright, class--I'm perfectly capable of trashing Islam, too: any religion that enables or encourages its followers to abuse or slaughter innocents is WRONG. Just like fundamentalist Christianity enables and encourages its male followers to abuse their wives and children, so does Islam. Remember the old adage? Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely...and Christianity and Islam "grant" men ownership of and thus infinite power over women, whom both religions are taught to hate as the reason we're not all still lollygagging around the Garden of Eden (so, if Adam wasn't fooled, then why exactly did he eat the forbidden fruit? What a dork!). And don't be too swift to conclude that only Islam enjoys killing the innocent: Christianity started a few hundred years before Islam and, in recent centuries, seemed to have shaken that bloodlust out of its bloodline, but that may only be a temporary lull if today's American fundamentalists get their way. They speak as if they miss slavery and stonings so much that they intend to dismantle the Constitution and replace it with the Bible so they they'll finally have an excuse to enslave Blacks again and to stone women and LGBTQ to death again, just like in the bad old Iron Age days. Sickos. Then again, maybe they're like my Tea Party Christian friend, who says an awful lot that he doesn't really mean--like when he claims to believe the Bible literally but clearly doesn't. Hopefully, he's not unusual in that respect among fundamentalist Christians.
     
     Evidence for the Big Bang

    Sorry, guys...shot my load of vids last time, so that's all for today. I'll just leave you with one last star banner:

    ********************************************
    Jesus and Ted Cruz
    are watching you masturbate
    -- Dot Calm's shadow
    ********************************************