I haz a sad
Greetings, fellow Dot Calm Readers, Freedom Fighters, and Truth Crusaders!
Well, my dears, I haz a sad...
The 2016 Summer Olympics are over.
Who gnu 17 days could zip by so quickly?
I have so enjoyed all the wonderful moments and all the wonderful people and all the wonderful displays of skill and friendship...the stories of sportsmanship in which competitors helped each other cross the finish line...the warm welcoming of the refugee athletes...the color, pageantry, and beauty of the opening and closing ceremonies...and getting a taste of Brazil in general and Rio in specific. As much as I rooted for my own team, I also rooted for the home team and was delighted that Brazil broke its records for medals in general and gold in specific. I so respect the organizers of the closing ceremony for recognizing so many of the participating nations--I can't imagine that we'd have done anything so open-minded if we'd had the games here in the states. Dot Calm would have just loved it. I guess that I should fess up that I'd never watched the whole opening or closing ceremonies before, but I did so for these games in honor of Dot Calm. Now, I can honestly say that I will never skip watching them in the future. They are beautiful and truly worth it. I agree with the president of the IOC: Brazil and Rio will forever have a place in my heart. Yeah, yeah...we all know that there are problems from crime to traffic to Zika...and we know those problems aren't going away...but what a lot of beautiful wonderful features wrapped up in such a beautiful wonderful country. There's a lot to love about Brazil, specifically Rio, and I hope to go there someday and see it and enjoy it all first hand. If I ever pull that off, I promise I'll come back here and report.
When I see so many nations of the world come together and celebrate everything that's good about sports, culture, and friendly competition, it makes me hopeful that, someday, I'll live to see the global village that seemed imminent during Bill Clinton's presidency...where the world truly was becoming smaller, and, thanks to technology, we were reaching out and making friends with our counterparts around the world. George W. Bush smashed that dream with a vengeance, and Donald J. Trump and the evangelicals would like nothing better than to drive a stake through its heart. It pains me that America is so damned self-centered...so provincial...so ignorant of the world we live in. I would love to see us become a better citizen of the world. I can even tell you what it will take: putting people at home and abroad ahead of the almighty dollar. I really do hope I live to see it, and I hope it doesn't take a disaster to make it happen. Like global warming...urk.
*Sigh*
And now for something completely different:
...WRONG!!!
I have to acknowledge the recent passing of John McLaughlin of The McLaughlin Group. Dot Calm was a huge fan of the show and watched it faithfully. Apparently, John never missed a single show--except the one days before his death. He was 89. Clarence Page, a faithful "Group" panelist, wrote an essay on John McLaughlin's passing in the Chicago Tribune, reminding us of how the Group revolutionized and popularized political reporting...with the unfortunate side-effect of transforming discussions into sound-bites, shout-downs, and wielding zingers instead of facts (although he was too reverent to phrase it as I do). I remember John McLaughlin by the famous "WRONG!!!" that he'd shout at the panelists, possibly opening the door, as Mr. Page suggests, to Trump's ugly, rude "You're fired!" In his essay, Mr. Page reminds us of John's signature sign-off: "bye-bye." Bye-bye, John.
Don't forget to read Dot Calm's shadow's favorite independent sources of news and information:
Daily Kos
AlterNet
Peas, friends. Don't be too hard on me today for not writing the most awe-inspiring post or for any phreaky phormatting that should intrude on our time together or for whatever else may or may not ail this post...I just got off work...a day that included nearly 2.5 hrs commuting, 3.5 hrs in court as a witness in a case of road rage, and 9 hrs of actual work. I left the house at 8 this morning...you do the math.
Kisses!!
- Dot Calm's shadow
Consider the preemptive Blogger phuqued-up phormatting disclaimer to be in effect. Grrr.
-- Dot Calm's shadow
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Trump is "reaching out" to Black voters
Either his poll numbers suck,
or he thinks he can sweet-talk them
into letting him reinstate slavery
Either his poll numbers suck,
or he thinks he can sweet-talk them
into letting him reinstate slavery
Trump is "reaching out" to Latino voters
Either his poll numbers suck,
or he thinks he can sweet-talk them
into being the free labor for his border wall
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Vox: Rio closing ceremony: So you won an Olympic medal. Now what?
Vox: What will happen to Rio's stadiums after the Olympics end?
Vox: Why are people still defending slavery in America? 5 common .excuses, debunked
Vox: Scaling back the Clinton Foundation is another sign Hillary has learned since last time
WaPo: An Ethiopian medalist just led a protest that could land him in jail
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Trump is nopologizing
for his hurtful remarks
for his hurtful remarks
Either his poll numbers suck,
or he thinks our attention spans
are as non-existent as his
are as non-existent as his
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Mailbag
From ColorOfChange.org--Release the tape of Sylville Smith's shooting
On August 13, 2016, 23-year-old Sylville Smith was shot and killed by Milwaukee Police Officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown during
a traffic stop that turned deadly, a narrative we’ve heard far too
often. According to Police Chief Edward Flynn, the 20-25 second incident
was recorded on a police body camera.1
The police have failed to release the footage to the
public and are biasedly reporting only Sylville's role in the incident,
which is a common tactic used to criminalize Black folks in order to
justify killing them. Police body cameras are supposed to
increase transparency and accountability but too many departments don't
want to give the public access to the footage.
Milwaukee residents have been protesting and
demanding the city release the videotape since the night Sylville was
shot by police. Although the community uprising was sparked by
the killing of Sylville, many local officials and Sylville’s brother
acknowledge the community response as being the byproduct of no
transparency, lack of police accountability and racial disparity. City Alderman Khalif Rainey stated in a CNN article, “This community of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has become the worst place to live for African-Americans in the entire country."2 And data confirms Milwaukee ranks in the top five worst cities on every indicator of racial injustice.3
The narrative about what happened to Sylville and the
community's response is only coming from law enforcement and elected
officials. Now that Officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown has been
identified as the officer who shot Sylville, reports have surfaced that
Heaggan-Brown knew Sylville from attending the same high school.4 Community
members are also complaining that Heaggan-Brown is known for being
extremely aggressive and antagonistic with Black communities. The family of Sylville and his community deserve to know the truth as seen on camera--not as told by the police. The Mayor of Milwaukee, Tom Barrett called for a quick public release of the body camera footage, but no action has been taken.5
Communities across the country fought for body cameras to hold police accountable, not further protect them.
We can’t afford to continue to spend millions of dollars on police
technology, like body cameras, only to be denied access to footage.
Practices like this undermine the transparency and pathway to
accountability we were promised.
Sincerely,
Arisha, Rashad, Scott, Enchanta, Malaya and the rest of the Color Of Change team
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Exxon and the other oil giants--who take $4,000.00 in corporate welfare from us in an average family's taxes each year--are this generation's equivalent of the tobacco industry in the 1950s and beyond: loudly denying overwhelming evidence that their products KILL. It's time to dismantle these kleptocrats before they kill us all.
-- Dot Calm's shadow
For decades, Exxon knew that the oil it was sucking out of the ground and selling by the tanker load all over the world was contributing — possibly irreversibly — to the disruption of the earth’s climate.
But instead of coming clean, Exxon not only buried what it knew but actively encouraged and funded climate denialists.
And now that this epic scandal has at come to light, who is the U.S. House of Representatives cracking down on?
Not, disgustingly, Exxon — which may well have perpetrated one of the greatest acts of corporate villainy of all time.
Rather, Big Oil’s puppets in Congress have initiated a witch hunt into the advocacy groups and government attorneys who are exposing Exxon!
Tell House Speaker Paul Ryan to order his colleagues to stop harassing state officials and green groups across the country who are trying to investigate Exxon’s actions.
Thank you for taking action today.
Onward,
Robert Weissman
President, Public Citizen
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As far as my Tea Party Christian friend is concerned, these people--like the poor in this country--should just go die already. He forgets that these people are just people--human beings just like him. How very Christian.
-- Dot Calm's shadow
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Dear friend,
Yet again, an image of a little Syrian boy is shaking us to our core.
A year after the devastating pictures of little Aylan Kurdi's body
washed ashore on a Turkish beach, images of another little boy are going
viral and forcing us to stop and pay attention.
This time, the little boy is alive, rescued from the rubble of a bombed
out building. He is silently seated on the bright orange seat of an
ambulance, caked in dust with blood smeared on his face. Stunned,
shocked and dazed, he wipes his face. Some blood gets on his hand and
like every little kid, his instinct is to wipe it on the seat.
As a mother of a four year old boy, I found the images so awful that I could barely look.
But then I forced myself to watch the video, and I couldn't stop
crying. This is, after all, happening while the world watches. We
mustn't turn away.
Please join me in taking action now. Tell
President Obama and Secretary Kerry: protect Syrian civilians from
violence and help bring an end to this crisis once and for all.
Once I watched the video, I wanted so desperately to scoop the little
boy up and hold him, clean his face and tell him it will be ok. But will
it? Thankfully his parents and siblings all survived, but sadly, there
is no guarantee of safety.
Identified by the media as five-year-old Omran Daqneesh, he is just one of the many children in the middle of a horrendous conflict that is now as old as he is.
Since the end of July, the fighting has intensified in Aleppo, with
reports of attacks on schools and hospitals from the air and
indiscriminate shelling and bombardment of civilian areas.
Hundreds of people, including many children, have reportedly been killed.
The city has seen its main supply routes blocked by warring parties and
thousands of civilians are cut off from food, water and health care.
It can't be said enough: the situation in Syria is truly dire.
The children of Syria and their families have been left with no good
choices. Whether they stay or go, they face uncertainty, violence, and
death. We must take action now.
The US is well on its way to meeting its relatively modest goal of
resettling 10,000 Syrian refugees this fiscal year, but it can and
should do more. The nearly 10,000 Syrians the US resettled thus
far represent a tiny fraction of the nearly 5 million Syrian refugees
in the Middle East who fled their homes and their country because of a
conflict that has now raged for nearly five and a half years.
We just can't turn away from Aylan and Omran – we must bear witness and we must try to help. Tell
President Obama and Secretary Kerry now: protect Syrian civilians from
violence and help bring an end to this crisis once and for all.
Thank you for raising your voice for peace.
Sincerely,
Laura Rusu
Policy and Campaigns Media Manager Oxfam America
P.S. We are hard at work providing basic necessities like clean water to
families still in Syria, as well as assisting Syrian refugees all over
the world. We need your support. Please consider making a donation in addition to taking action.
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Democracy Now!
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Daily Kos
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AlterNet
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Movies!
Hey! It's Donald Prothero--the REAL Dr. Dino! (Kent Hovind, who has a fake doctorate and calls himself Dr. Dino, wouldn't know an actual dinosaur if it crapped on his head.)
This is sick AF when you really think about it, but, hey, it's what Christians do!
OMFFSM [sic]! This one is even funnier...definitely a bed-kicker. (ICYMI last time, I mentioned that I sit on my bed and watch these on my laptop...and when they're really funny, I end up kicking the bed. That's so I don't blow my dad into the next county by lol'ing.)
Here's PZ Myers...and Mr. Deity's ever-present banana digs at Ray Comfort. Love PZ's tie!
I wonder how many takes this took...! Shades of Vizzini in Princess Bride...but on steroids!!
OT (ICYMI)
NT (also ICYMI)
But wait, there's more--yepperd00dles, another
Lucy makes a brilliant point: if Christianity is no longer a religion, then it doesn't need its tax exemption any more! I wonder if BillO and all those other Christians who want to run away from the disrespectability of religion toward the respectability of philosophy realize that. ...I'm betting no. I'm sure that, like denying the reality of science under their noses while lurving their smart phones and navigating cars, they want to have their cake and eat it, too.
ICYMI
...Eventually, I'll get tired of these and go back to watching current events stuff. Apparently, not yet, though.
'Til next time, check out these great channels:
...or, if you just want something mindless and fun, try Tested
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posted by Dot Calm @ 8:08 PM
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