What else can I say?
Greetings, fellow Dot Calm Readers, Freedom Fighters, and Truth Crusaders!
Well, I'm still not quite back up and running 'puter-wise yet. Certainly by Monday; hopefully even sooner, like by Friday.
Why do I always feel like I'm trapped behind the 8-ball?!
*sigh*
Since I'm still on borrowed time/borrowed computer, I'll be brief.
("Hello, Brief--pleased ta meetcha!")
Frankly, I can't help not having more to say--my brain is too saturated with all the recent violence around the world to discuss it, and, at home, I'm wrapped around the axle over all the election crap.
I can't help thinking that if Debbie Wasserman Schultz hadn't rigged the primary, we'd have had Bernie as our nominee, and he'd have mopped up the floor with Trump by his ugly yellow wig.
But nooooo--we have to counter the Most Hated Republican Candidate Evar with our very own Most Hated Democratic Candidate Evar.
And this is why America can't have nice things.
Now, I'm not saying I hate Hillary. I don't. I think she really is uniquely qualified and eminently capable. Dammit, if she'd only had a scruple or two...some ethics...a little integrity...some honesty. If only she hadn't flouted the system with that ugly e-mail scandal, she'd have made a fine center-right president like her husband and like O'Bama. When ordinary people pull security violations like Hillary's, they get booted out of their jobs...they lose their security clearances...sometimes, they hafta change industries to get rehired. They don't go to jail, but it still ain't pretty.
Yeah, yeah--I know that all politicians (except the rare good guys like Bernie) break the rules, and I know that they often break the law. Look at Cruz's and Trump's campaign violations as just one recent example. Everybody knows...and even though I care, nobody else seems to care. Everyone just glosses over it and figures that, if they let the other guy get away with it, then nobody will bother them when their guy does it. And, so far, that seems to be the case. But Hillary really blew it with security in a position of national trust. She is already such a juicy target for the Republicans--who hated her the minute she refused to stay home and bake cookies as First Lady--that I just can't see how they could ever let her survive politically. To me, it really is that big of a deal. And suppose they somehow do let her live it down. Can you imagine what the next Republican will try to get away with using Hillary's e-mail scandal as a precedent?
I cringe to think.
And yet, like I said last time, I still totally trust Bernie's judgment in backing Hillary. Bernie is a practical man. He knows that it won't do any good to stomp his feet and throw a tantrum--he knows that the only way to win is to play the cards we've all been dealt. Bernie knows that we can kiss "the most progressive Democratic platform in living memory" goodbye if Trump gets in. He knows that we average American's don't stand a chance when Republicans run the show. He also knows that at least three Supreme Court seats and other federal appointments are at stake in this election. Bernie knows that, such as she is, Hillary is our only shot at defeating the Christo-fascist bigots in the Republican party as led by LGBTQ+ hater Pence and everyone-else-hater Trump. And Bernie did something very clever last night at the DNC: as Tom Brokaw said, Bernie linked Hillary to his platform, not the other way around. And Hillary will have to do some fancy talking to get out of it.
My take?
Talk is cheap--Hillary probably won't even demur at Bernie's maneuver. She's already come out against the TPP in her own voice, and I've heard that the DNC platform chose not to highlight her and other Dems' opposition in the platform so's not to embarrass President O'Bama, who is strongly in favor of the TPP. I wouldn't be surprised if that's true, but I also wouldn't be surprised if Hillary and Kaine (who supported fast-track, tsk tsk) were to implement TPP once they got in, either. Like I said, talk is cheap.
Even so...
To me, the bottom line is that the worst Dems are still worlds better than the best Pubs. Dems still at least lest us live. Pubs can't kill us off fast enough to suit their greed, and they want to regulate our vaginas and gay anuses every step of the way--to the point that women sent Pence their used tampons so that he could have the funerals he tried to mandate for all their miscarriages and fetuses. Kyle Kulinski of Secular Talk sizes it up this way: the Democrats are 80% corrupt, but the Republicans are 100% corrupt.
I could not agree more.
Last time, I also said that I like the idea of keeping Bernie in our hip pocket in case Hillary gets frog-marched away between now and November. I am grateful beyond words to him for everything he has done and is continuing to do. I only hope that his followers listen to him and do what it takes to keep Trump out of the White House.
I also hope that my fellow Berners read Greg Palast's piece below--Bernie hasn't even begun to
And who knows--maybe after eight years of President Hillary Clinton (if we're fortunate enough to "win" the lesser of two evils), we might be able to coax Michelle O'Bama to run. I have a feeling she'd be closer to the center than the Clintons or her husband--wouldn't that be nice? Bonus: I'd make a fortune selling plastic ponchos to protect us all from all those Republican heads exploding--hehe!
Well, dear ones, I hates ta blog 'n' run again, but stick a fork in me...I'm done. It's been a long, tough week today [sic], and even though this is truly a labor of love, I'm still outta gas, and even the fumes have given up the ghost.
Don't forget to read Dot Calm's shadow's favorite independent sources of news and information:
Daily Kos
Peas, friends. Hug yourselves and each other for me--please and thank you! I heart each and every one of you!
- Dot Calm's shadow
Consider the preemptive Blogger phuqued-up phormatting to be in effect. I am in no mood to deal today.
-- Dot Calm's shadow
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The REAL RNC logo...
i.e., the logo of the REAL RNC
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Headlines
If you read nothing else today, read these articles from Vox on Trump:
This Trump article is from Politics USA rather than Vox:
And now for a change of topic...
Friends, this article is long, but it's easy reading and very comprehensive:
4 winners and 2 losers from the second night of the Democratic National Convention
4 winners and 2 losers from the second night of the Democratic National Convention
America isn't weaker than China and Russia — it's just held to a different standard
Why both Democrats and Republicans made big changes to their abortion platforms this year
Watch a woman, born before women had the right to vote, nominate Hillary Clinton
Why both Democrats and Republicans made big changes to their abortion platforms this year
Watch a woman, born before women had the right to vote, nominate Hillary Clinton
Short but sweet--hehe:
Elizabeth Banks channels The Hunger Games to mock Donald Trump at the DNC
Again, I can't be mad at my fellow Berners, and I really REALLY admire Bernie!
How the DNC roll call vote managed to avoid impending disaster
Funny but sad:
Watch: Full Frontal With Samantha Bee tries to get Republican delegates to say "black lives matter"
Elizabeth Banks channels The Hunger Games to mock Donald Trump at the DNC
Again, I can't be mad at my fellow Berners, and I really REALLY admire Bernie!
How the DNC roll call vote managed to avoid impending disaster
Funny but sad:
Watch: Full Frontal With Samantha Bee tries to get Republican delegates to say "black lives matter"
And this will make your day!
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Mailbag
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Our campaign has always been about a grassroots movement of Americans
standing up and saying: "Enough is enough. This country and our
government belong to all of us, not just a handful of billionaires."
I just finished speaking at the Democratic National Convention, where I
addressed the historic nature of our grassroots movement and what's
next for our political revolution.
I hope that I made you proud. I know that Jane and I are very proud of you.
Our work will continue in the form of a new group called Our Revolution.
The goal of this organization will be no different from the goal of our
campaign: we must transform American politics to make our political and
economic systems once again responsive to the needs of working
families.
We cannot do this alone. All of us must be a part of Our Revolution.
When we started this campaign a little more than a year ago, the media
and the political establishment considered us to be a "fringe" campaign.
Well, we're not fringe anymore.
Thanks to your tireless work and generous contributions, we won 23
primaries and caucuses with more than 13 million votes, all of which led
to the 1900 delegates we have on the floor this week at the Democratic
convention.
What we have done together is absolutely unprecedented, but there is so
much more to do. It starts with defeating Donald Trump in November, and
then continuing to fight for every single one of our issues in order to
transform America.
We are going to fight to make sure that the most progressive platform
in the history of the Democratic Party becomes law. This means working
for a $15 federal minimum wage, fighting for a national fracking ban,
and so many more progressive priorities.
The political revolution needs you in order to make all this happen and more.
Thank you for being a part of the continued political revolution.
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders
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Dear Friend,
Roll Call reports: "Because of the strength of [Sanders'] campaign, his opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership has now become accepted Democratic policy, even as President Barack Obama continues to support it."
Call Debbie Wasserman Schultz now at 202-225-7931. When you reach a staffer or leave a message, you can say something like,
Roll Call reports: "Because of the strength of [Sanders'] campaign, his opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership has now become accepted Democratic policy, even as President Barack Obama continues to support it."
Call Debbie Wasserman Schultz now at 202-225-7931. When you reach a staffer or leave a message, you can say something like,
"I urge Debbie Wasserman Schultz to stand with Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and other Democrats in publicly opposing the TPP and opposing any lame duck vote on the TPP after the election."When you've made your call, please report it here.
Thanks!
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| Support debt relief for defrauded students | |
| Submit a public comment to the Department of Education: "I support strengthening the proposed rules on debt relief for defrauded college students to make it easier for students to get loan relief and to hold colleges accountable for wrongdoing. I support full and total loan relief with no time limits, automatic discharges when there is evidence of school misconduct, and making sure schools cannot deny students their right to sue in court."
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From Sean Patrick Maloney--fight anti-LGBTQ+ Republicans!
I’ll be honest: The GOP’s extreme anti-LGBTQ platform scares me.
On every issue – from marriage to so-called “conversion therapy” – Republicans
want to go back to a time when people like me were in the closet, and
when businesses, schools and the government could discriminate against
families like mine.
The only way to stop that from happening is to make sure we have
LGBTQ voices at the table. Can you please chip in to support my
grassroots reelection campaign? We’re about $7,000 short of our goal for
the month with less than a week to go. Here’s the link: https://secure.actblue.com/
Even as they tell me to my face that they care about “my issues,”
Republicans in Congress are dead set on rolling back every inch of
progress LGBTQ Americans have achieved. If we want to protect our rights, we need to kick these extremists out of Congress.
Thank you,
Sean
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Charles Kinsey was unarmed. There's no reason he should have been shot.
Tell the North Miami Police Department: Fire the officers responsible for the shooting of Charles Kinsey.
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From Daily Kos--end prison gerrymandering
U.S. Census Bureau recently released
its proposal on how to implement residence guidelines for the 2020
Census. Tucked away in the guidelines is a plan to continue the
inaccurate and outdated practice of "prison-based gerrymandering."
Prison-based gerrymandering is when state and local governments
count incarcerated people as residents of the district where they are
being held -- artificially inflating the population of the districts
where prisons and jails are located and giving said districts undue
political influence.
Representative democracy is rooted in the idea that equal numbers of
people should have equal influence over the legislative process. The
Census is used as a tool to reshape the legislative districts to
maintain equal populations in each district. Prison-based gerrymandering
distorts this process.
It gets worse. Because our criminal "justice" policies are steeped in racial discrimination, the
communities that are the most victimized by this practice are urban,
Black and Latino -- weakening their voting strength and transferring
political power from urban communities of color to predominantly white
rural areas.
As explained by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund,
African-Americans are 12.7% of the general population, but are 41.3% of the federal and state prison population. Members of the disproportionately minority incarcerated population are largely held in areas that are both geographically and demographically far removed from their home communities: in New York, for example, approximately 77% of all prisoners are African-American or Latino, but 98% of all prisons are located in disproportionately white State Senate districts. Nationally, rural communities make up only about 20% of the U.S. population, but it is estimated that 40% of all incarcerated persons are held in facilities located in rural areas.
There's more. The Census Bureau defines
"usual residence" as the place where a person "eats and sleeps most of
the time," but fails to follow that rule when counting incarcerated
people. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, "The majority of
people incarcerated in Rhode Island, for example, spend less than 100
days in the state's correctional facilities. If the same people were
instead spending 100 days in their summer residence, the Burea
u would count them at their regular home address."
The unexplained exception for incarcerated people makes less sense once
you take into consideration that other populations -- such as deployed
overseas military, and juveniles staying in residential treatment
centers -- are counted in their home location even if they are sleeping
elsewhere on Census Day.
California, Delaware, Maryland and New York have already adopted their
own legislation to count incarcerated persons in the right location --
and hundreds of municipalities have acted against prison-based
gerrymandering. Jefferson County, FL and Cranston, RI have seen
successful Equal Protection challenges to prison gerrymandering in
federal district courts. By not ending this practice, the Census Bureau
has regulated that people across the country will continue to be at the
mercy of an ad hoc approach to equal representation.
The rules for the 2020 Census have not yet been set. The Census
Bureau will accept comments on their proposed guidelines through September 1, 2016 before moving forward.
Now is the time to take action against this inaccurate and outdated practice. Sign the petition.
Now is the time to take action against this inaccurate and outdated practice. Sign the petition.
Keep fighting,
Monique Teal, Daily Kos
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From CREDO Working Assets--hold Republicans' feet to the fire to reinstate Glass-Steagall
Dear Friend,
 |
In a shocking move last week, Republicans added a plank to
their platform calling for the reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall
divide between investment and commercial banking.1
For decades, the original Glass-Steagall Act separated general
banking – like savings deposits and small business loans – from the kind
of high-risk speculative trading done by investment banks that crashed
the economy. But ever since banks started chipping away at the law and
eventually repealed it in the 1990's, we've seen a resurgence of risky
gambles and financial crashes from banks that hold Americans' savings.2
The truth is that Congressional Republican leaders are trying to have it both ways – talking tough, without walking the walk.
Congressional Republicans try to blame President Obama for the
continued existence of too-big-to-fail banks, while pushing legislation
that would give free rein to the fraudsters who crashed our economy.3 Let's
demand that Republican leadership in Congress follow their platform and
schedule an immediate vote on the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act.
The 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act, co-sponsored by Sens. Elizabeth
Warren and John McCain, is a modern, updated version of the old law,
designed to tackle the complexities of modern banking. Glass-Steagall is
fundamentally about setting tough, clear rules and forcing Wall Street
to work for Main Street, not the other way around. It would declare that
Wall Street mega-banks can engage in high-risk trading all they want –
but not if they also take out federally insured deposits.4
This law is needed today more than ever before. The biggest banks
continue to balloon in size and control huge portions of our economy.5 Risky trading continues, with high-frequency computer-driven trading adding new risks.6
And nearly five years after Congress passed Wall Street reform, the
Federal Reserve continues to delay implementing even a watered-down
version the Volcker Rule, a ban on using federally insured funds for
risky trades that is considered "Glass-Steagall light."7,8
Republicans are trying to have it both ways. Despite the platform plank, the Trump campaign said it was "not taking a position" on Glass-Steagall.9 The party platform supports reinstating Glass-Steagall, even as it calls for dismantling the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law.10 We need to force Republicans to put their money where their mouth is by scheduling a vote to reinstate Glass-Steagall.
Under Glass-Steagall, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation would
insure the money everyday Americans deposited in banks – ensuring
middle class economic stability and preventing bank runs – but any bank
that took deposits could not engage in risky trades and speculative
gambles.11 It worked for decades. But as Sen. Warren
describes, "That high wall between high-risk trading and boring banking
was punched full of holes until, in the late 1990s, it was knocked down
when Glass-Steagall was eventually repealed. And not long after that,
the worst crash since the 1930s hit the American economy."12
Thank you for speaking out.
Murshed Zaheed, Political Director
- Michelle Fox, "Trump campaign still weighing Glass-Steagall," CNBC, May 20, 2016.
- Kevin Cirilli, "Warren, McCain introduce bill to bring back Glass-Steagall," The Hill, July 7, 2015.
- Donna Borak and Andrew Ackerman, "GOP's Jeb Hensarling Takes Aim at Dodd-Frank, Volcker Rule," The Wall Street Journal, June 5, 2016.
- Cirilli, "Warren, McCain introduce bill to bring back Glass-Steagall."
- Jeff Cox, "Too big to fail banks just keep getting bigger," CNBC.com, March 5, 2015.
- Nick Baumann, "Too Fast to Fail: Is High-Speed Trading the Next Wall Street Disaster?" Mother Jones, January 2013.
- Wallace Turbeville, "What is the Volcker Rule?" Demos, December 9, 2013.
- Federal Reserve Board of Governors, "Press Release Dated July 7, 2016," FederalReserve.gov, July 7, 2016.
- Fox, "Trump campaign still weighing Glass-Steagall."
- Jon Marino, "Glass-Steagall: Wall Street is not happy with Donald Trump," CNBC, July 19, 2016.
- The Roosevelt Institute, "Looking Back at the Repeal of Glass-Steagall, or, How the Banks Caught Casino Fever," RooseveltInstitute.org, retrieved July 19, 2015.
- Cirilli, "Warren calls for return of Glass-Steagall."
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Democracy Now!
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Daily Kos
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AlterNet
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Movies!
The Thinking Atheist on Samantha Bannister: The Tiny Dancer--please watch and give what you can in memory of this beautiful, sweet, rational child, whose family isn't just dealing with her loss due to brain cancer but also with mounting bills and funeral expenses.
TYT: Millionaire Pastor Steven Furtik Said Jesus Doesn’t Want You To Know How Much Money He Has
Secular Talk: "28 Pages" Finally Released, Implicating Saudi Arabia In 9/11 Attacks
I need to find a better "copy," but...
John Oliver - UK on Brexit [Update] (Last Week Tonight) July 24th, 2016
Well, alrighty then...
Crap--make sure the women in your life see this!!!
Once again, John Oliver is my hero!
ICYMI...
TYT: Rush Limbaugh Defended Roger Ailes--I guess that means that Limbaugh is a pedo/sexual abuser just like Ailes, as are Drudge and the rest of Ailes's misogynist male defenders...? Don't miss this video--Roger Ailes apparently channeled the ghost of Jedgar (i.e., J. Edgar Hoover)....
TYT on Iowa Rep Steve King: “Sub-Groups" Don’t Contribute To Civilization
TYT on Rudy Giuliani: The Real Danger Is Black Kids! 82% of whites are killed by whites, so does Rudy think that whites are inherently violent because whites keep killing each other?
Secular Talk: New facts emerge on Nice, France, terrorist
And now something uplifting...I can't believe this was posted eight years ago. Still lurve it!
'Til next time, check out these great channels:
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Remember, I'm only doing this
because they scrubbed it from their website,
but here's a bit of Trumpy-pumpy for you...
...I need more TP for my bunghole, heh!
posted by Dot Calm @ 3:07 PM
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