Author: luimbe
“It is very unjust”
Quote“The Benghazi Mission was understaffed. We know that now,” Stevens said. “But, again, Chris knew that. It wasn’t a secret to him. He decided to take the risk to go there. It is not something they did to him. It is something he took on himself.”Stevens, the chief of pediatric rheumatology at Seattle Children’s Hospital, also told the magazine Clinton has taken “full responsibility” for the tragedy and she doesn’t “see any usefulness in continuing to criticize [Clinton]. It is very unjust.”
Source: Slain Ambassador Chris Steven’s Sister Speaks Out: ‘I Do Not Blame’ Clinton
“Pay me what you owe me”
Quote“Donors are demanding a lot these days, man, and they want answers and they want results, and a lot of them hit the panic button a lot,” said Theresa Kostrzewa, a Republican lobbyist and donor based in North Carolina, who is supporting former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida. “This is a new day. Donors consider a contribution like, ‘Well, wait, I just invested in you. Now I need to have my say; you need to answer to me.’ ”
Source: Big Donors Seek Larger Roles in Presidential Campaigns – The New York Times
how am i supposed to read this?
Full Screen. 14 inch screen. I’m not a speed reader, but htf am I supposed to read this. I can’t even look at the historical pictures of Marian Anderson.
Andrew S. Tanenbaum on intentional reduction of polls and the problems it created with voting access in AZ on Tuesday:
Judging by what happened in Arizona Tuesday, it’s working. In many areas with large minority populations, such as Maricopa County, the lines to vote were generally an hour or more, and sometimes the wait was as much as five hours. In some predominantly Latino areas, there were no polling places at all. As The Nation notes, the word “disenfranchised” was being used quite liberally.There is time enough before the general election for lawsuits to be filed; presumably the DNC is working on that already. But whether those lawsuits are resolved in time for the election, especially with an eight-person Supreme Court, is another question. It is entirely possible that a few close states, most obviously Arizona, New Mexico, and North Carolina, could end up in the Republican column due to these machinations.
Source: ElectoralVote
When people think of the national Democratic party, state Democratic parties and groups like NAACP or Voto Latino predicting these issues and having lawsuits in the pipeline is kinda what people expect of these groups. It’s hard to vote for Democrats when they don’t do what Democrats would love.
Watch: “The Expanse”
StandardI love “The Expanse” on SyFy. It’s a movie quality production, featuring researched science fx within an action-thriller plotted into a tight serial with plenty of suspense and a rich multi-world backdrop. There are strong performances from a cast that is diverse in gender and race. Among many strong performances, DOMINIQUE TIPPER stands out as a real no nonsense gangsta space engineer…
14. Naomi Nagata from the Expanse: I’m so happy that this character exists; she is everything! I just finished the first season of the show and I’m not ashamed to say that I’m probably Naomi’s number one fan. She’s a Belter (born and raised amongst the asteroids of our solar system), has multiple degrees, and is a spaceship engineer. In other words, she’s the brains of the show, using her skills to get her comrades out of sticky situations. She also has an authoritative quality to her; what she says goes. Naomi is highly logical, and is the voice of reason in a group comprised of an idealistic captain, a self-doubting pilot, and a trigger-happy sociopath. I can’t wait to see more of this Mohawk rocking, spacefaring maven as she continues to kick ass intellectually.
source: The Demise of the Damsel in Distress: The Badass Women of Science Fiction – Black Girl Nerds
Watch it!
unapologetic blackness: Beyoncé rocks militant
On twitter I wrote…
any long form critique of the halftime show that doesn’t have the phrase “milly rock” in it is disqualified.
— Luimbe (@luimbe) February 9, 2016
Beyoncé’s halftime cameo? takeover? was full of pro-black imagery:
Her costume paid homage to Michael Jackson at the Super Bowl. The backup dancers dressed in Black Panther inspired costumes miles away from the birthplace of the Marxist civil rights era political organization. Beyonce and the her squad least subliminal formation was an “X” right at the 50 yard line. The lyrics of song of choice “Formation” has her stating her heritage as a Negro and Creole, two distinctly American heritages linked inextricably to the black diaspora. She declares her love for her man’s nose and his “Jackson 5 nostrils”.
the reference image for aforementioned nostrils (source Wikimedia, Jackson 5 1974)
And it begins and ends with references to Katrina’s destruction of New Orleans.
This is Beyoncé publicly claiming blackness (No Dolezal). But Beyonce’s salute to the young black people was when she hit the “Milly Rock”.
The “Milly Rock” is a song and a two step that is the immediate cousin of last year’s “Shmoney Dance” by Flatbush, Brooklyn rappers Bobby Shmurda and Rowdy Rebel from the video for the single “Hot N*gga”. Beyonce and Jay Z cosigned the Shmoney Dance during their “On the Run” concert.
2 Milly is a rapper from Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. 2 Milly is a ___ of “Too Militant”, but the militant is in the lyrics. “Milly Rock on Any Block”. This is genius.
I originally missed this, due to being out at a bar in Scottsdale watching the game while enjoying adult beverages while watching the game. but black twitter was on point and young black twitter is still talking about it.
Tweets about milly rock beyonce
it’s code talking to the young black people.
guns to stop government
LinkThis is why these gun nuts say we should all want guns, to be able to stop the gov’t. This didn’t work too well for the Bundy Gang
FBI agents then moved in on Wednesday night after spotting one of the occupiers leaving the militia’s encampment in an ATV. Law enforcement approached the ATV, which then quickly returned to camp. The FBI then surrounded the occupiers’ camp in armored vehicles and set up barricades.
the right to bear arms is not and has never been an effective check on the government . It’s just a way of intimidating neighbors.
“Why don’t you just…?”
AsideThe millennials are the brainiest, best-educated generation ever. Yet their elders often stop them from reaching their full potential, argues Robert Guest
Source: Generation Uphill
Yes. We (elders) have let college prices inflate from a factor of x times the minimum wage to y times the minimum wage.
Our thirst for bigger, badder houses and of course the derivatives leveraged to the hilt against the mortgages created an almost dollar breaking crisis.
We have perfected the “never ending, over there war against an idea”. We started this as the “cold war” against “communism in countries not named USSR” now it’s the “War on terror” against “terrorism perpetuated by Muslims” which asks young people to enlist, fight and have their minds and bodies destroyed by the horrors of war.
The private stadium funded with public cash, debt and tax breaks has become the standard from the mighty NFL down to the niche MLS. Allowing billionaires to demand hundreds of millions every 15 or so years. In addition, new prisons are erected all the time and fueled by incarceration of men who drop out of extremely poor high schools our elected officials cannot seem to run correctly.
and yet..our advice to them is “Why don’t you just…?”. Anyone that says that to “kids these days” doesn’t understand what kids these days are really up against,
2015 Was the Year of ‘No,’ | Motherboard
LinkGod’s gift to bloggers is a two letter word.
“revised conclusions to mask”
StandardSuch changes are at the heart of an expanding internal Pentagon investigation of Centcom, as Central Command is known, where analysts say that supervisors revised conclusions to mask some of the American military’s failures in training Iraqi troops and beating back the Islamic State. The analysts say supervisors were particularly eager to paint a more optimistic picture of America’s role in the conflict than was warranted.
Source: Pentagon Expands Inquiry Into Intelligence on ISIS Surge – The New York Times
“revised conclusions to mask” = lied.
Cities in our country have the cruel habit of clearing out homeless people for large public culture and entertainment events. Even the pope. I’d really like to see some of the funding for these things be dedicated to establishing additional permanent shelter space for homeless people instead.
watcher on the wall
StandardI agree with Matt Bruenig number one partisan argument for the democratic party’s nominee is to keep the opposing party’s compatriots from implementing disastrous policies for the next 10 years and enabling a far right supreme court to uphold these actions for a generation.
Number two argument is to rebuild the 50 state strategy to actually enable state leaders above all…
would this make you a happy worker?
StandardYahoo! 2014:
In an elaborate photo shoot that took place at an offsite at the Cavallo Point Lodge in Marin County, north of San Francisco, she cast all the top staffers as characters from “The Wizard of Oz” and made them pose for a poster in full costume, since it was to be the theme of the upcoming employee holiday party.
[…]The effort cost $70,000, according to many sources, and caused some level of consternation among staffers. “It was very embarrassing, but Marissa thought that it was the way to make employees in Silicon Valley happy,” said one person there. “We really could not argue.”
the outrage caucus says all media is liberal media
StandardRepublican candidates are spending a lot of time attacking the not at all liberal rags the Wall Street Journal, CNBC and Politico.
Ben Carson’s campaign manager tried to pour more cold water on Politico Monday afternoon but ended up incorrectly accusing the news outlet of retracting its report on the Republican presidential frontrunner’s murky history with West Point.
Source: Politico Hits Back At Carson Camp: No, We Didn’t Retract The Story
Most media outlets are responding to these protests against their campaign coverage instead of pointing out the Republican candidates disqualifying policy positions. This is a strategy that benefits every Republican candidate during the primary season and the likely Republican voter (the base) loves the “conservative patriot & voters versus the lying awful evil liberal media” framing.
“Thousands of Philly students still without permanent teachers” by @newskag
LinkThe private contractor hired to find subs at minimum wage has failed. (h/t Atrios)
Seven weeks into the school year, thousands of Philadelphia school children have yet to be assigned permanent teachers.On top of a substitute-teaching predicament that leaves hundreds of jobs unfilled every day, the Philadelphia School District – with 190 vacancies – has created a crisis, “either through neglect or incompetence,” union president Jerry Jordan said Monday.
Source: Thousands of Philly students still without permanent teachers
Undervalued in Hollywood
Link[Piedomont Media Research’s Josh] Lynn: I would say that from all the movies that we’ve looked at, the one actor that comes to mind is Denzel Washington. Every movie that we’ve run with his name in it has increased the score of that film as a concept by anywhere from 30 percent to 40 percent. Didn’t matter what it was.
Source: Podcast: The Guy Who Predicts Whether A Movie Will Bomb, Months Before It’s Made
heard on Denzel Washington is the Greatest Actor All Time Period Podcast
When your party tells you to STFU
LinkBefore he could even start up the blow hard machine, Ted Cruz is basically being told to STFU and GTFO by Republicans in the House and Senate. I’m of the opinion that you can’t be POTUS if you can’t lead other elected officials who already agree with you.
Militarized Center City doesn’t spur business
The military took Rittenhouse Square First (Courtesy J. Val)
One big misconception about the Papal Visit and World Families Week was that it would be like Made in America festival or Live 8, a bunch of celebrants descending upon a city with disposable income to see their favorite artist or to be part of a pop culture spectacle. That’s not this. This was people with kids, grand parents and friends who believe the Pope is their heavenly ordained religious leader.
That means Churches organized a lot of this. One thing that Churches do is host modestly and that means people get fed and sent off with some water and/or food if the parishioners can help it and make sure there are places for people to rest if they need it. Catholic parishes staged and hosted volunteers and visitors. To start their days they would walk towards the papal militarized zone (PMZ) (the “box” constantly surrounded by metal fences, National Guardsmen, TSA, Secret Service, Police and other law enforcement agents for 4 days). They streamed past pop-up street vendors with bootleg Pope memorabilia and water bottles. The hottest items were official items from Sunday’s mass and official passes to get into the PMZ.
Restaurateurs like Stephen Starr were extremely upset with the negative revenue impact of the weekend, but the family of five coming to see Pope Francis probably didn’t put his upscale eateries on their list of things to do. People weren’t streaming out of the house drunk to head to the parkway, they are heading out of churches, guest houses and friends extra bedrooms and given some water and snacks to take with them and a time for dinner or late evening meal.
Most of us non-catholic foodies, fantasy football owners, drinkers, revelers and par-tiers stayed on our sides of the PMZ which meant rooftop parties, watching the game at local bars, catching up on fall cleaning, or even you know. Rittenhouse Square was dead by Wednesday.
Once Aramark got involved and began monopolizing supply for the event there was even less opportunity for the fine restaurants occupied by federal, state and local law enforcement. The best move was just to take the loss this weekend and close their doors and take it up with their city council representative or congress person.
flight pattern coordination sounds like a problem for
LinkThe “pre-departure clearance” computer software designed to automate the filing and amending of flight plans and the delivery of departure clearances isn’t capable of flagging or identifying multiple plans that have been filed for the same flight, the letters said. This can result in a controller clearing a flight for departure based on an outdated plan, and the pilots flying a route not anticipated or planned for by the controller.To try to catch the problem, controllers have to go through the time-consuming process of reviewing flights plans, calling pilots and searching through paper strips that are passed among controllers and marked to track a plane’s progress from taxing to takeoff. Then they compare the information on the paper strips to data displayed on computers.
Source: Whistleblowers Expose Problem That Could Cause Plane Collisions
Sounds like this is an application needed for this “Silicon Valley* for Government” startup that Obama has built 140 deep and wants to grow to 500. I hope they have a whistle blower’s queue: here’s what’s wrong or repetitive busy work in my agency, please fix it.
*note: silicon valley growth was pushed along by government investment.
talk bots
LinkOut of 70,572 hosts, 70,529 were female and only 43 were male. So we can say for sure that roughly zero percent of bots on Ashley Madison are male. The bots also tended to have ashleymadison.com email addresses, though other popular addresses included things like passthecake@hotmail.com, kimmakesprofiles@hotmail.com, and digital-romeo@hotmail.com. And finally, tens of thousands of the bots had IP addresses that suggested the accounts had been made by people working at the Ashley Madison office.
Source: Ashley Madison Code Shows More Women, and More Bots
Her is real.