Friday, August 19, 2016

Bye, Felicia--I mean Comrade Manafort!

Greetings, fellow Dot Calm Readers, Freedom Fighters, and Truth Crusaders!

Looks like we've survived another week...well, some of us, anyway.

Comrade Paul Manafort is still alive, even if his job with the Trump campaign is pushing up daisies. I guess the combination of his own lucrative connections with Ukraine (Guardian article below, marked with an asterisk) and Trump's oft-stated pro-Putin sentiments raised a few too many eyebrows, as the Vox article below (again, look for the asterisk) remarks. The next asterisked Vox article says that Manafort was the closest thing to a disciplined and professional person in the campaign, which is otherwise stocked with media types--as typified by Trump bringing on Breitbart's Steve Bannon along with Roger Ailes as an advisor. It also reminds us that ci-devant FOX CEO Ailes is looking for a new gig and adds that, once Trump loses, Bannon and Breitbart could use Trump's media personality flash to turn Breitbart into what I'll call TrumpTV...with, I assume, Ailes at the helm and Trump as the figurehead CEO and public persona of the outfit. If the happy day of Trump being trounced at the polls really were to be followed by the electromagnetic despair that would be TrumpTV, I wonder how many TVs and computers would spontaneously commit suicide by catching fire and melting to stop the torture of having Trump-Breitbart pumped through them 24/7/365.... Not to mention, TrumpTV cum Breitbart would make FOX News look more liberal than Daily Kos...! I'm sure that Alex Jones and Glenn Beck would find happy homes there among the rest of the tinfoil-hat brigade.

Must be nice to be alive and reasonably well and to have enough money and connections to be considering such a media venture, if in fact that is what Trump and company are doing. A lot of other people this week were not nearly so fortunate.

For example...

Louisiana just had a 500-year flood...the eighth in the country this year, according to NOAA (see the star banner below). The death toll is up to 13 according to news reports. If you believe in superstition and trust no science and technology beyond stone knives and bearskins, then you probably believe that Yahweh is responsible for sending the flood to punish America for gays and abortions. If, on the other hand, you've graduated from grade school and high school...maybe even gone to college...and understand that nature is governed by natural laws rather than capricious, vindictive, invisible sky beings, then you probably recognize this year's floods...and the wildfires in California and other tumultuous weather events around the planet...as hallmarks of global warning. Which Republicans loudly deny because acknowledging reality cuts into their profits.

To restate it simply, REPUBLICANS KILL.

And they do so on general principle: they do it because they can, and they do it because it pays.

I'm sure the dead Republican rank-and-file voters lost in these tragedies and their surviving loved ones were grateful they gave their lives for the worthy cause of corporate profits.

On an ironic note, Family Research Council's Tony Perkins--one of the fundies claiming that natural disasters are God's punishments for using one's genitalia the "wrong" way--had his house and some of his cars flooded. (That, of course, begs the question of how many cars he actually has...I'm grateful I have ONE car...and I'm grateful it RUNS...but I digress.)

Facebook

There is only one conclusion: Tony Perkins is gay, and God just smote him!

The Snopes article in the link this photo came from mentions schadenfreude. I won't go that far for two reasons: I refuse to wish ill on anybody--no matter how entitled they feel to use superstition to justify bigotry--and global warming could take out any of our homes at any time. So, I'm not going there, and neither should you. It's going to take months--maybe years--for his family to pick up the pieces of their lives that just washed away, and, like I said, it could happen to any one of us at any time. But I can't resist the irony...and I do wish I could stick my finger in Perkins's face and scream at him that God is punishing him personally for being gay and having abortions. That would be delicious...especially if it made him think. I mean, he himself said (as reported in the Snopes article) that 80% of the community had been affected by the flooding. Does he really think all those people were having gay abortions?

And then there's another privileged survivor, featured in a piece of odd news you have probably already heard by now: Ryan Lochte made up the story about being robbed at gunpoint (see the Vox article asterisked in the headlines below...not that my Tea Party Christian friend would believe it...he's been reveling in all the bad news about Rio so he can blame it on "socialism" because, hey, that's just how he rolls...despite the fact that JEEZUS was a devout socialist). What made Lochte think that coming clean about fighting a security guard in a gas station bathroom was really worse than creating an international scandal and perhaps having to go to jail for six months? He's thirty-freakin'-two years old...not some 17-year-old juvey delinquent. I can't believe he didn't know better, and I'm shocked his buds went along with the gig even for a little while...unless they were on something stronger than booze, that is. But even so...cheez. Way to make us Americans look like jerks, d00d.

As my dad taught me when I was a kid: take your lumps.

My old man was wise then and is even wiser now. I hope Ryan learns a thing or two from this.

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

Daily Kos
AlterNet

Peas, friends, and thanks for reading. Please and thank you for taking care of yourselves for me til next time!
  
- 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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Headlines
  
BuzzFeed: 14 Photos Show How Catastrophic The Louisiana Floods Really Are
    
Vox: The Louisiana floods are devastating, and climate change will bring more like them. We're not ready.
    
...OK, I'm phuquen depressed now. I needs me a cookie! Oh, hey, lookie what I found:
BuzzFeed: The Glitter Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe You Never Knew You Needed
...Thanks, Buzzfeed--I'm feeling more fabulous already! (Srsly--these cookies are VEGAN...use gluten-free flour, and I'm golden. Can't wait to make me a batch!)
  
*Vox: Rio Olympics 2016: Ryan Lochte's alleged robbery debacle, explained
  
Vox, inspired by stories (and lack thereof) from the Olympics: How exercise can shut down women's periods — with dire health consequences
  
FiveThirtyEight: Why Women Are No Longer Catching Up To Men On Pay
Spoiler: it's because men get paid more for working more hours...which is still a somewhat insidious form of discrimination. Dang, son.
  
Vox: Amber Heard did what abuse victims are "supposed" to do. People still didn't believe her.
...Mebbe we should start calling her "Amber Un-Heard." Poor girl--talk about heaping insult on top of injury.
    
Vox: Public option? Status quo? Collapse? What comes next for Obamacare.
    
FiveThirtyEight: Election Update: Why Clinton Doesn't Have This Race Locked Up
    
Vox: The bonkers conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton's health, explained
         
RightWingWatch article on our friendly neighborhood Islamophobes: Family Security Matters: "Muslim DNA" Makes Olympic Fencer Prone To "Attacking Others With Knives"
...Hm..."Muslim" DNA. Is that anything like Christian DNA? Or Jewish, Buddhist, or Hindu DNA? I didn't realize that religions had DNA. I thought only living things had DNA--not dead ideas. Then again, maybe "Christian" DNA makes people prone to being ignorant ammosexual bigoted terrorists intent on taking away other people's equal rights and protections under the law.
 
The Guardian: Former leader of group that 'cures' homosexuality says industry is dying
   
*The Guardian: Ukrainians saw Paul Manafort's political impact up close – and it wasn't pretty
  
*Vox: Donald Trump's campaign chair Paul Manafort just resigned

*Vox: Donald Trump just ditched his campaign manager because he's a media celebrity, not a real businessman
...Trump is a celebutante--he's only famous because he's famous, not because he's a successful businessman in any sense of the word "successful"...or "businessman." He's kinda like Paris Hilton only a whole lot more narcissistic, vacuous, ignorant, stuck up, and fucked up. And not nearly as nice to look at. Eesh.
    
Vox: Donald Trump's first ad shows there is no pivot and never will be
...All Trump has to sell is fear and hate. Unfortunately, too many Americans are buying.
   
Remember what I said last time about Trump fighting with himself (i.e., directly contradicting today what he said in the past)? Here are a few examples...

Buzzfeed: Trump In 2008 Interview: "I Support Hillary, I Think She's Fantastic
    
BuzzFeed: We Found Another One: Trump In '08 Said "Fantastic" Hillary Should've Been Obama's VP
   
Buzzfeed: Donald Trump Literally Today On Iraq: "I Said Get Out"
    
Buzzfeed: Here's Some More Footage Showing Trump Pushed For Egypt, Libya Actions He Now Bashes
    
And now back to your regularly scheduled programming of Trump being Trump...
  
Vox: Donald Trump said police aren't racist. The Daily Show listed several ways they are.
Spoilers:
  • The Baltimore Police Department targeted and disproportionately stopped black residents for stops, searches, and arrests — sometimes with orders like, "Lock up all the black hoodies."
  • One black man in his mid-50s was stopped 30 times in less than four years, typically for small crimes like loitering or trespassing. He was never found to be doing anything wrong.
  • During a ride-along with Justice Department officials, a sergeant told a patrol officer to stop a group of young black men. The officer protested, saying he had no valid reason for the stop. The sergeant responded, "Then make something up" — again, in the middle of a ride-along with federal investigators.
  • During one stop, police ordered a woman into a strip and anal cavity search in full view of the street. The officers found no evidence of any wrongdoing.
  • One template for police arrests, provided by a shift commander, automatically included "black male" in the description of the arrest.

  • ...Don't worry, the article has more. Oh wait--that's NOT a good thing.
        
    Vox: CNN tells Trump adviser he's losing: "Says who?" "Polls." "Which polls?" "All of them."
    ...Hilarious!! Maybe Trump really is Voltaire's "God" incarnate--a comedian playing to an audience that's afraid to laugh.
            
    RawStory: Long time Trump ally claims elections can be rigged because Scott Walker did it five times
    ...as the CADOF caption reads, these Trump supporters are none too bright. (Warning--slow site. Be sure your Malwarebytes, Norton, and Ad-aware are running before clicking this link!)
        
    BuzzFeed: 17 Hilarious Tweets About Donald Trump Explaining Movies
    ...These really are hilarious--def click through. You won't want to miss them!
        
    Washington Post: These protestors wanted to humiliate "Emperor" Trump. So they took off his clothes.
    ...the article is hilarious if only because of the pix. G'head and click through--WaPo won't bite...at least, not this time. Teasers for front and back--click through to watch the video that shows the whole thing in all its gory [sic]. I love how they rendered "saggy old man butt"--poor old Trumpty Dumpty looks like he has diaper rash! Hehe!!



    ...I phuquen' love it! The emperor has no bawls...and a stubby teeny weenie!! The video is well worth watching because you get to see all the wonderful detail (yikes). Ain't sculpture grand?
       
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    Video round up: Federal judge permanently blocks Ohio antiabortion-rights law; filmmaker discusses 'Abortion: Stories Women Tell'

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    Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on Wednesday said existing funding for the Zika vaccine likely will be exhausted by December, Roll Call reports. More »

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    Op-ed: Ongoing push for LARC use must address history of coercive reproductive policies

    "Since long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), including intrauterine devices and hormonal contraceptive implants, are among the most effective means of pregnancy prevention, many family planning and reproductive health providers are increasingly promoting them, especially among low-income populations," Jamila Taylor, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, writes in a Rewire opinion piece. More »

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    Tell Congress: Act on climate change to save these animals.

    Last month, scientists reported that the first mammal species has gone extinct because of climate change.

    That’s right. Gone forever.

    The key factor responsible for the extinction of this population? Climate change.

    Experts say the Bramble Cay melomys are the first of many species which will go extinct because of climate change. But Congress is standing idly by -- watching these animals die.
       
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    Independent Lines Advocacy

                 Last week a panel of federal judges just struck down North Carolina's racially tainted district maps – a HUGE step forward to unrig our elections – but elected officials there STILL won't give up trying to silence the state's most vulnerable voters!

    North Carolina's governor is going to the Supreme Court in a desperate attempt to reinstate discriminatory voter ID laws that would rob minority voters of their fundamental rights ahead of the biggest election in modern history.
    We can't let politicians silence our votes.
    That's why we're mobilizing a grassroots movement in key battlegrounds to pass crucial ballot initiatives that will restore and protect voting power in elections.

    But we need 2,000 new members signed up by MIDNIGHT to keep up the fight against these discriminatory tactics. 
    Will you give $5 or more right now to help stop politicians from rigging our elections?
       
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    Verified Voting Logo

    Casting a secret ballot in the upcoming election might be less than secret depending on where – and how – you vote. In partnership with Common Cause and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, we just published a new report about this: "The Secret Ballot at Risk: Recommendations for Protecting Democracy."
    This year 32 states will allow voting by email, fax and/or internet portals – mostly for overseas and military voters. In most states, voters using Internet voting must waive their right to a secret ballot, even though all the states mandate ballot secrecy either in constitution or statute.
    Origin of Waiver Map


    Giving up the right to a secret ballot threatens the freedom to vote as one chooses. The report cites several examples of employers making political participation a condition of employment -- such as an Ohio coal mining company requiring its workers to attend a Presidential candidate’s rally - and not paying them for their time.

    Key findings from the report include:

    •    Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia collect votes online, with e-mail, electronic fax, or an online portal
    •    Twenty-eight of these states and the District of Columbia ask voters to waive their right to a secret ballot.
    •    Four of the states that collect votes online do not give voters any warning regarding ballot secrecy and voting this way.

    The findings are concerning. However, the good news is that there are simple steps a voter can take to protect the secrecy of their ballots. These steps are simple and already allowed in all jurisdictions. There are only a few things to remember, and there is help available to every voter who wants or needs to vote absentee.  Please share these, especially if you know someone who is deployed overseas.
    Get your ballot early; get your ballot faster, print it to mark it, mail it back.  
    • Military and overseas voters: Your election starts earlier! 46 days BEFORE Election Day, your election official sends out ballots to military and overseas voters. So the first thing is REQUEST YOUR BALLOT EARLY. Make sure you’ve registered and requested your ballot. Contact your local election official back home, the Federal Voting Assistance website --FVAP.gov, or your voting assistance officer (VAO) to find out how. If you go to FVAP.gov you can get online assistance or call their hotline 1-800-438-VOTE for help too. 

    • Military and overseas voters also can receive their BLANK ballot electronically. Your official can send your ballot to you by email or you can download from a portal, saving a lot of time on the front end so you can start voting right away. 
    • PRINT your ballot before marking your choices. Avoid marking it through an online ballot marking system to safeguard your choices from others seeing them.

    • MAIL back the ballot through postal mail. If you’re a military voter, there’s even a special EXPRESS MAIL label you can use, just for ballots. It’s called 11-DoD; it is free; ballots come back on average 5-6 days, and you can track it all the way back to your local election official and know that it got there.
     Online systems don’t go through the same kinds of testing that other voting systems do. So there are no guarantees, and that’s why the secrecy waivers have been put in place. You can rely on election officials doing their best for your ballot, but your votes will be safer and more secret if you don’t put them online.  
    Some voters think absentee ballots – especially military and overseas – are not counted, or only in very close elections. That’s just not true. The one way to be sure your vote won’t count is not to “show up” so take these steps, and make sure your voice is heard.
    I encourage all voters to read or download the report at SecretBallotRisk.org.
    Thank you for all you do!
    Best Regards,
    Pamela Smith, President
    Verified Voting
    760-804-VOTE
    If you’d like to help support our work, visit https://verifiedvoting.org/donate
       
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    From CREDO via Daily Kos--women deserve access to safe abortions

    In June, the Supreme Court struck down parts of Texas’ HB 2, which right-wing, anti-woman lawmakers passed to close clinics and keep women from being able to access abortions. The Court affirmed that laws which put up obstacles to abortion care, usually under the guise of “protecting women,” are unconstitutional because they put an “undue burden” on women’s ability to exercise their rights.

    The Court’s decision was a huge victory, but it does nothing to stop one of the most powerful tools anti-woman, right-wing extremists in Congress use to keep women from obtaining abortions. The Hyde Amendment has prohibited taxpayer funds from paying for abortion care for 39 years. Hyde's effects are devastating for low-income women, making it nearly impossible for them to access safe, affordable abortion.

    Sign if you agree with CREDO and Daily Kos: All women deserve access to safe, legal abortion. Pass the EACH Woman Act.   
       
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    Our brothers and sisters in Louisiana need our help after severe rainstorms caused massive flooding there earlier this week, leaving at least eleven dead and more than 50,000 homes damaged, most beyond repair.

    Help us show our union family in Louisiana that we have their backs. Donate today.
       
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    From Daily Kos--Both parties in Congress want to screw over workers
    Members of Congress -- even Democrats -- are trying to steal an important victory from 12.5 million workers.
    Click here to call your representative and tell them to reject a new bill that would delay the new overtime pay protections.
    In May, President Obama and the Department of Labor (DOL) announced a plan to update the overtime rules to ensure millions more working people get overtime pay. Thousands of us from the Daily Kos community worked in coalition with other groups to support this plan to raise the current overtime salary threshold. We thought our victory was secure.
    But now, Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Oregon) has introduced a bill that would undermine the DOL’s efforts and delay the overtime rule by three years. So we're partnering with our allies again to fight back.
    Click here to call your representative and tell them to reject the Overtime Reform and Enhancement Act, which would hurt workers.
    This bill wouldn't just delay the overtime rule's implementation. It would also reduce the amount of people whose rights would be protected, by preventing the salary threshold from automatically increasing in the future to account for overall salary growth. This would lower the share of those who would be covered from 33% today to just 16% by 2035.
    We're already behind where we were in the 1960s and 1970s, where about 60% of workers were guaranteed overtime pay. Current overtime rules haven’t kept up with salaries and the cost of living, and today less than 10% of salaried workers are covered.
    But now members of Congress want to roll back protections. And Donald Trump recently said he wanted to limit the new overtime rule, as well. We must secure the victory we accomplished earlier this year for 12.5 million workers.
    Please call your representative today and tell them to reject the Overtime Reform and Enhancement Act.
    Thanks for all you do,
    Mara Schechter, Daily Kos
       
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    From Daily Kos--Ban pesticides that injure children

    over the past decade, research at institutions like UC Berkeley and Columbia University has shown that an entire class of poisonous neurotoxic pesticides called organophosphates—even at minimal levels of exposure—damage children’s brains and lead to such alarming deficits as reduced IQ, autism and attention disorders.

    Earthjustice and a broad coalition of partners have been fighting for years to convince the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ban these pesticides, and the time is now.

    Will you sign a petition demanding the EPA ban these pesticides?

    After multiple Earthjustice lawsuits, the EPA has finally started the process of banning food uses of one of the most widely used of these pesticides -- chlorpyrifos. But banning chlorpyrifos alone is not enough. This entire class of neurotoxic pesticides must be kept out of our food, our drinking water, our schools and yards, and our bodies.

    Sign the petition with Earthjustice demanding a total ban of organophosphates.

    A total ban is what communities need and deserve, especially the farmworker communities that have disproportionately borne the burdens of pesticide poisonings and learning and memory impairments in their children.

    We can’t let these pesticides continue to poison people. Take action today.

    Keep Fighting,
    Carissa Miller, Daily Kos
       
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    From the Hillary Clinton campaign--a word on Breitbart

    Whenever you hear about a right-wing conspiracy theory somehow making its way into the mainstream of political dialogue, there's a good chance that Breitbart News had something to do with it.

    Never heard of Breitbart News? It's a fringe website where there's no opinion too ugly, too divisive, or too outright crazy to be worth breathless promotion.

    The one about President Obama being a secret Muslim born in Kenya? Breitbart was all over that "story."

    Or maybe you heard about the time they attacked an opponent -- a conservative Republican, no less -- by calling him a "renegade Jew."

    Why does this matter?

    Donald Trump just hired Breitbart's executive director to be his new campaign CEO.

    Now, we've had a conservative media in this country for a while. I don't always like what they have to say, but I respect their role and their right to exist.

    Breitbart is something different. They make Fox News look like a Democratic Party pamphlet. They're a different breed altogether -- not just conservative but radical, bigoted, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic conspiracy peddlers who never have been and never should be anywhere near the levers of power in this country.

    But Donald Trump just gave them a broad new mandate to shape his campaign, his message, the future of the Republican Party, and quite possibly the country.

    It goes without saying that we have to beat these people. But I want to beat them so decisively that their kind never rises again.

    Doing that is going to take hard work, moral clarity, unshakeable determination, and enough resources to make sure that every last voter in America hears from us every single day about the choice in this election.

    We'll never face a challenge more important than this. Please, chip in to stand on the right side of history and help us send Donald Trump and Steve Bannon back to the fringes where they belong. When you do, we’ll send you a free sticker as a thank you for your support:


    Thanks,

    Christina

    Christina Reynolds
    Deputy Communications Director
    Hillary for America
       
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    Whether we like it or not, Facebook has become the global water cooler, where over 1 billion people gather every day to stay in touch with family, organize events, and share news. But now that Facebook is a huge corporation, it looks like it’s doing what huge corporations do best: dodging taxes.

    In fact Facebook is now under investigation by the IRS for shifting billions of dollars of assets offshore to Ireland, a tax haven, to dodge paying its fair share in taxes.

    Stand with Americans for Tax Fairness and Other98: demand that Facebook pay what it owes in taxes.

    Facebook’s profits have been off the charts: in 2015 alone, they made $17 BILLION, with $3.7 billion in profit.  If proven, this blatant tax dodge could result in Facebook owing U.S. taxpayers up to $5 billion. How many new schools and bridges would $5 billion build?

    And to add insult to injury, Facebook has ignored seven summonses from the IRS requesting financial records related to this potential tax dodging scheme.

    So add your voice: demand Mark Zuckerberg comply with the seven previously ignored IRS requests and immediately pay what Facebook owes in U.S. taxes.

    In a hugely publicized move last year, Mark Zuckerberg announced that he’ll give away 99% of his shares to charity over his lifetime, saying he wanted to “create a more equal world.” But if Zuckerberg wants to start funding education and medical research, he can do that right now: by paying his company’s taxes.

    Facebook – like many other tax dodgers – is taking advantage of offshore tax loopholes that allow it to shift U.S. profits offshore where they are lightly taxed, while sticking the American people with the tab.

    America’s not broke. We’re being robbed. The sooner we hold these corporations accountable, the sooner we can start paying for the things that really matter. Join us in demanding Facebook pay its taxes today.

    Thanks for taking on the biggest corporations on Earth with us.

    John Sellers
    Other98
       
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    Friends, Republicans' determination
    to fry the entire planet
    for the sake of a quick buck
    really pisses me off.
    For a stoopit, lousy buck,
    they're willing to kill ALL OF US.
    "Phuquen prix" is too nice for them bastids.
     
    Click here to read the article
    that CCC is grouching about.
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    Democracy Now!

    Friends, todaze DN! has an important story on O'Bama shuttering private federal prisons. These are the prisons that hold non-citizens for federal crimes, like entering the country illegally. The private prisons are so much worse than the ones run by the Bureau of Prisons that their neglect, dereliction, and malfeasance have sparked protests and now studies shining light on their atrocities. There are only maybe 20,000 people being warehoused (at best) in these federal private prisons; unfortunately, there are many more private prisons out there that also need to be shuttered for good. There are a lot of public goods and services that should NEVER be for profit, including prisons, education, pharmaceuticals, health care, and insurance to name a few. Any industry that makes more by providing less--or by providing nothing--has no business being for profit. And education is the only one that has any business being private, provided that it does not replace decent, high quality public education.
    -- Dot Calm's shadow
       

    Stories


    In what some are calling a historic change in policy, the Justice Department says it will phase out the use of privately run federal prisons. In a memo describing the ... Read More →

    News that the Department of Justice will phase out 13 private prisons sent stocks plummeting on Thursday for for the companies that operate them: Corrections Corporation ... Read More →

    The DOJ's announcement that it will phase out federal prisons operated by private prison companies will have no direct impact on private immigrant detention facilities, ... Read More →

    We get reaction to the State Department's statement that a plane filled with $400 million in cash for Iran was "leverage" to ensure that five American prisoners held by Iran were ... Read More →

    Ahead of the final weekend of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian police have accused a group of U.S. Olympic swimmers of vandalism during an incident at a ... Read More →

    Headlines →

    Stories


    While polls show Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are among the least popular major-party candidates to ever run for the White House, it appears no third-party candidates ... Read More →

    We turn now to a growing protest in North Dakota, where hundreds of indigenous activists have shut down construction on a multibillion-dollar pipeline project. The ... Read More →

    The Green Party's vice-presidential nominee Ajamu Baraka is a longtime human rights activist. He is the founding executive director of the U.S. Human Rights Network and ... Read More →

    Over the last few weeks, the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has killed dozens of civilians and bombed at least one school and one hospital supported by Doctors Without ... Read More →

    For months, Jill Stein of the Green Party attempted to push Bernie Sanders to join the Green ticket. While he ignored the call, Stein is now reaching out to Sanders supporters for ... Read More →
  • Louisiana Floods Worst U.S. Disaster Since Hurricane Sandy

  • Aetna to Leave Public Healthcare Exchanges After DOJ Blocks Merger

  • Clinton Takes Aim at Trump for Refusing to Pay Employees

  • Lawmakers Begin Reviewing Clinton Emails

  • Ring-Wing Media Influencer Steve Bannon Now Heads Trump Campaign

  • NYT, Guardian Editorial Boards Call for End to Support for Saudis in Yemen

  • U.N. Admits Role in Causing Haiti Cholera Outbreak That Killed 9,000

  • U.N. to Investigate Claim Peacekeepers Failed to Stop Attacks on Civilians

  • At Least Five Police Officers Killed in Bombings in Eastern Turkey

  • Australia to Close Manus Offshore Detention Facility for Asylum Seekers

  • Illinois Governor Signs Domestic Workers Bill of Rights

  • Hate Crime Charges Possible for Oklahoma Man Who Killed Arab Neighbor

  • UC Berkeley Chancellor Leaves Amid Criticisms over Handling of Harassment Cases

  • Brazil Police Question U.S. Swimmers After Doubt Cast on Robbery Claim
        
       
    ******************************************** 
    Many people are saying
    that Donald J. Trump
    is a DIAGNOSED NARCISSIST
    -- Dot Calm's shadow
    ******************************************** 

    Daily Kos

  • House Republicans apparently committing felonies in pursuit of Hillary Clinton
  • Fox News' Dana Perino just put Fox News lies on blast in Twitter rant
  • Naked statues of Donald Trump titled 'The Emperor Has No Balls' are popping up in major cities
  • This just might be the best official statement ever about Donald Trump's naked NYC statue
  • Donald Trump is tanking the Republican Party so hard the he could put the House in the play, despite the GOP's outrageous gerrymandering. Chip in $1 to Democrats running in must-win districts to take back the House.
  • A Devastatingly Elegant Take-Down of Trump from a Midwestern Republican former GM CEO
  • Jan Brewer: Calling Hillary Clinton a 'lying killer' was 'a stumble of the tongue'
  • Tony Perkins says God punishes gays with natural disasters, has home destroyed by 'biblical' flood
  • Joy Reid's Stunning Takedown of Trump-Breitbart Alliance
  • Sign to tell your senators: We need a democracy that lives up to its promise! New bills would protect voting rights and overturn Citizens United.
  • Yesterday's Trump Dump: 'Sometimes I can be too honest'
  • AP: Emails link Trump advisers to covert campaign for pro-Russian Ukraine government
  • Panic setting in for Senate Republicans
  • Republicans killed hundreds of jobs and stole nearly $1 billion from Milwaukee's central city
  • Add your name if you agree with the Democratic Governors Association (DGA): With Republicans disenfranchising voters, we need to restore the Voting Rights Act (VRA) now! sponsored
  • Theocratic Right Now Runs Trump Campaign
  • That time Hillary Clinton and Stephen Colbert discussed eating cheesecake is so worth the watch
  • U.S. Department of Justice to end use of private prisons
  • Donald Trump supporters watching outrageous fake Trump campaign ads is amazing


  • Today I became a Republican.
  • Donald Trump supporters watching outrageous fake Trump campaign ads is amazing
  • Medically unfit Hillary Clinton – the "doctor" behind the myth
  • You Cant Make This Up! Speechwriter For Mother Of Slain Benghazi Son "Can't Vote For Trump"
  • Help Get Out The Vote to beat Trump. Chip in $3 to Daily Kos now.
  • Yesterday's Trump Dump: Out of the frying pan and into the tire fire
  • Beyond free speech: Trump supporter urges fellow 'patriots' to shoot BLM women/children (VIDEO)
  • Meet the lazy welfare recipients who have spent millions in food stamps: Military service members
  • This is the best thing you will see today and it begins and ends with 'says who?'
  • EPIC FAIL! Right-Wing Activist Busted Trying To Infiltrate Feingold's (D) Campaign
  • Trump's campaign manager laid groundwork for invasion of Crimea, routed Russian funds to US firms
  • Sign if you agree with Patty Judge: Senator Chuck Grassley and Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans need to give Judge Garland a fair hearing. sponsored
  • Christie gave Trump a $25 million gift — and was still left on the sidelines
  • Trump: I don't trust U.S. intelligence information. - And He wants to be President of USA?
  • Baryshnikov: #ITrustHer. Trump a "dangerous totalitarian opportunist." "Reminds me of Soviet Union."
  • Eight is not enough — Republicans launch new House investigation of Clinton email. Because.
  • Scientific American, "Donald Trump’s Lack of Respect for Science Is Alarming"
  • A $5 message to those who still don't get the meaning of 'sexual consent'
  • GOP may be stuck with Trump for another decade
  • White People LOVE Trump's Speech to Blacks
  •    

    ******************************************** 
    Don't believe
    look it up for yourself!

    ******************************************** 

    AlterNet
    By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet
    Last year, Kellyanne Conway gave a detailed description of what she wanted the 2016 GOP president to be. Too bad it's nothing like her new boss. READ MORE»

    By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet
    As part of his "law and order" agenda for America's inner cities, Trump simply recited charter school marketing slogans. READ MORE»

    By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet
    "You started a conversation that was not on television when you began," Stewart told Wilmore. READ MORE»

    By Sophia Tesfaye, Salon
    A new New York Times report outlines just how improbable a win on the back of white voters will be for Trump in 2016. READ MORE»

    By Sarah Lazare, AlterNet
    There are nearly 29,000 DOD contractors in Afghanistan. READ MORE»

    By Lawrence Benito and Emma Greenman, AlterNet
    Voter restrictions, not the phantom menace of voter fraud, are the real threats to our democracy.  READ MORE»

    By Ben Norton, Salon
    Legal groups say New Jersey's new anti-BDS legislation might be unconstitutional and threatens the First Amendment. READ MORE»

    By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet
    "Kids as young as ten are choked; stripped; left in solitary confinement for weeks." READ MORE»

    By Sarah Lazare, AlterNet
    Univision announced the $135 million deal on ThursdayREAD MORE»

    By Rebecca McCray, TakePart
    Since 1970, the number of females in American prisons has surged from under 8,000 to nearly 110,000. READ MORE»

    By Tom Boggioni, Raw Story
    The threats came after the jewelers posted a photo of a handwritten note they included with the purchase made by Trump's eldest daughter. READ MORE»
       
    By Adele M. Stan, AlterNet
    It used to be that people like this only got backstage passes to the GOP's big doings. Now they're part of the show. READ MORE»

    By Peter Montgomery, Right Wing Watch
    One outlandish claim is that God is using Trump to pave the way for the Second Coming. READ MORE»

    By Kali Holloway, AlterNet
    The consequences of anti-black racism are far more than skin deep.  READ MORE»

    By Heather Digby Parton, Salon
    The GOP establishment will rush to gain control back... but then what? READ MORE»

    By Sarah Lazare, AlterNet
    The DOJ's announcement is being met with considerable fanfare, but the plan will not reduce number of people in prison. READ MORE»

    By Larissa Walker, AlterNet
    Orville Redenbacher's, the biggest popcorn brand, refuses to join its competitors in ending the use of seeds coated with bee-killing neonics. READ MORE»

    By Leo Gerard, AlterNet
    The Oval Office is not a wrestling ring. READ MORE»

    By Daniel Block, The American Prospect
    Democrats who have started a discussion about improving retirement security in the U.S. would do well to take a page out of Canada’s book. READ MORE»

    By Carrie Weisman, AlterNet
    Some say virtual reality is about to hit the porn scene in a big way. READ MORE»

    By Justin Gardner, The Free Thought Project
    If we don't want people using bizarre new synthetic drugs, maybe we should rethink drug prohibition.  READ MORE»

    By Andrea Thompson, Climate Central
    July 2016 was the hottest July ever recorded globally. READ MORE»

    By Tom Boggioni, Raw Story
    He claims they would be "better off," with no indication of how. READ MORE»
       
    By Kali Holloway, AlterNet
    Look, if you dare.  READ MORE»

    By Jim Hightower, AlterNet
    For starters, Trump isn't standing up for workers; it's his own wealth he's protecting. READ MORE»

    By Elizabeth Preza, AlterNet
    Fox's Eric Bolling and Sean Hannity are among the pundits who can't quite grasp why these polls matter. READ MORE»

    By Heather Digby Parton, Salon
    "Where do you go to have any sense of the truth?" right-wing radio host Charlie Sykes asked MSNBC. READ MORE»

    By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog
    America has the most bizarre health-insurance system imaginable: One designed to avoid sick people. READ MORE»

    By Dr. Jennifer Gunter , The Huffington Post
    "Only positive results" is not medical terminology. READ MORE»

    By Elizabeth Preza, AlterNet
    Karma is a bitch, Tony Perkins. READ MORE»

    By Alexandra Rosenmann, AlterNet
    On Larry Wilmore's second to last show, Black demands a Summer break at least. READ MORE»

    Climate Nexus
    The blaze spread from a few acres to 30,000 in just 24 hours. READ MORE»

    By Tom Tomorrow, AlterNet
    The act killed in the primaries. READ MORE»

    By Tom Boggioni, Raw Story
    After a stream of racist insults, she turned her ire on Martin Luther King, Jr. READ MORE»


    By RJ Eskow, AlterNet
    With his plan to abolish the estate tax, Donald Trump is offering up yet another gift to his rich pals.  READ MORE»

    By Kali Holloway, AlterNet
    It's a match made in heaven, really.  READ MORE»

    By Larry Schwartz, AlterNet
    And a few places your pooch might want to avoid. READ MORE»

    By Matthew Rozsa , Salon
    Win or lose, Trump has inspired a new wave of racial hostility in America, and capitalized on it. READ MORE»

    By Waqas Mirza, AlterNet
    Federal programs gather data on innocent Americans for mass surveillance under cover of keeping them safe. READ MORE»

    By Vijay Prashad, AlterNet
    Obama is clearly irritated that foreign-policy orthodoxy compels him to treat Saudi Arabia as an ally. READ MORE»

    By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet
    It's still a long shot, but not a mere fantasy. READ MORE»

    By Elizabeth Preza, AlterNet
    Whirlpool hopes to make a difference, one load of laundry at a time. READ MORE»

    By Ben Ehrenreich, AlterNet
    These tactics must be exposed and the climate of fear they create must not be allowed to stand. READ MORE»

    By Gary Legum, Salon
    The talk of a mandate for any winning politician in this highly polarized election is pure fantasy. READ MORE»

    By David Ferguson, Raw Story
    A violent, racist convoy captured on video in Massachusetts. READ MORE»

    By Michael Hayne, AlterNet
    An outraged Sarah Silverman says the money should go for education. READ MORE»

    By Phillip Smith, AlterNet
    Phelps was infamously busted doing a bong hit, and Bolt has been known to pass the dutchie.  READ MORE»

    By Jay Walljasper, AlterNet
    Is there a dark cloud on the horizon for this Indian Country success story? READ MORE»

      
    ******************************************** 
    Many people are saying
    that Donald J. Trump
    is TOO GULLIBLE
    to be president.
    His judgment is so poor
    he cannot be trusted
    to think straight.
    He is incapable
    of making sound decisions
    for the country.
    -- Dot Calm's shadow
    ******************************************** 

    Movies!

    Mr. Deity again!

    Let's break up the monotony of Mr. Deity with a little Father Ted

    Back to Mr. Deity...these really are too funny!


    I sit on the bed while I watch these. They are kick-the-bed funny!!

    'Til next time, check out these great channels:
    ...or, if you just want something mindless and fun, try Tested
      
    ********************************************