July 4, 2015

Our Bernie Sanders moment: This July 4, remember only true independence and revolution brings change

Tectonic change comes when people are hopeful and sense something new is possible. Here's how we build on victories
PATRICK L. SMITH

One of the things progressives often get wrong has to do with how fundamental change comes about. The standard reasoning is that people are stirred when they hit the bottom of the bottom—a condition of diminished expectations. It takes an economic depression, or a lot of political repression, to prompt people to rise. We need things to get worse before they get better. Let the suffering come.

This appears to be an entirely logical dialectic. But politics as desperation, as we might call the thought, rarely, if ever, proves out. Almost always it turns out to be an error.

Follow this line, and you want the Kochs to smash what remains of the political process to smithereens. You want the Supreme Court handing down ever more irrational judgments, you want more cops-in-camo shooting African-Americans, you want more unemployment and more reckless ambition among the foreign policy cliques. Then, you declare, people will be stirred out of the stupefied apathy that grips this nation.

We ought to ask ourselves this July 4 the extent to which we are given to this argument. Speaking only for myself, I made the mistake too many times too many years ago not to have learned how wrong it is.

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http://www.salon.com/2015/07/04/our_bernie_sanders_moment_this_july_4_remember_only_true_independence_and_revolution_ever_brings_change/

July 4, 2015

An Alternative Approach to Nuclear Fusion: Think Smaller

Nuclear fusion is the energy of the Sun and the stars, and there’s a worldwide scientific quest to produce it as a clean, sustainable energy source.

In Europe, the international scientific community has supported large fusion reactors like the Joint European Torus (JET) experiment in the UK and the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) currently being built in France.

But one group of UK researchers says that the key is to think smaller, and to mash together spherical reactors (a squashed-up version of regular-shaped reactors) and high temperature superconductors to accelerate the development of fusion energy. Their early prototype devices have a 1.2m diameter, and next up, they’re are aiming to build machines that are 3m high with a 2.5m diameter.

“The mainstream view with these devices is that you have to get bigger and bigger in order to produce fusion energy. But we set about trying to use these high temperature superconductors,” David Kingham, physicist and CEO of Tokamak Energy, told me. “Instead of making bigger reactors, you go to a higher [magnetic] field that enables you to contain the plasma in an effective way.”

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http://motherboard.vice.com/read/an-alternative-approach-to-nuclear-fusion-think-smaller

July 4, 2015

Banned, but Bountiful: Marijuana Coveted by NFL Players as Invaluable Painkiller

Jamal Anderson was a talented NFL running back with a bruising style who rushed for over 5,000 yards while playing for the Atlanta Falcons. It was a more physical league during Anderson's time, and he retired in 2001 after an eight-year playing career. It was nastier. More punishing. More measures taken by players to ease the pain of playing in the sport.

Anderson remembers the prevalent use of marijuana when he was in the game. It was used for enjoyment but also as treatment for the aches and bruises caused by professional football.

"When I played, 40 to 50 percent of the league used it," Anderson said recently.

Anderson stays in regular contact with players now, and he believes the number of NFL players who use marijuana has grown significantly since he was a Falcon. He's not alone. Current players say marijuana use in the sport is extensive, with many using the drug to deal with the ramifications of head trauma. One player said in an interview he believes smoking marijuana helped prevent him from attempting suicide.

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http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2486218-banned-but-bountiful-marijuana-coveted-by-nfl-players-as-invaluable-painkiller

July 4, 2015

Sanders pledges to take campaign to conservative strongholds

DENISON, Ia. – The Democratic Party needs a 50-state strategy that's focused on winning back conservative voters in rural America and Tea Party strongholds, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Friday.

"We are going to go to rural areas. We are going to go to conservative areas," he said. "We are going to take on the Tea Party."

But Sanders — an independent — came under question Friday for his ability to unite the Democratic party.

Jason Winters, 28, of Sibley, said he's worried about building up the party in rural Iowa, where he said it's difficult to get progressives elected to statewide and local offices. Winters, who works as an organizer for the National Education Association in South Dakota, asked Sanders about his plans for uniting the party at an event in Sheldon on Friday morning.

Sanders responded by touting a track record of engaging voters. During a run for mayor of Burlington, Vt., he said he doubled voter turnout by making local government relevant to working-class citizens. Sanders said he's committed to building the Democratic party, even in very conservative states.

"If you claim to be the party of the working people — if that's what the Democrats are supposed to be, in the legacy of F.D.R., even Harry Truman — how do you abandon the poorest states in America and not talk to those people?" Sanders said to a crowd in Sheldon. "How are you not running strong candidates, putting money into those areas?"
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http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/07/03/bernie-sanders-unite-democrats-presidential-campaign/29682335/

July 3, 2015

'He saw a lot in Iraq. It changed him': Father of shooter in York County murder-suicide

The man who authorities said committed suicide after he shot a woman at a York County bar last night likely suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder following military tours in Iraq, according to his father.

Lenard Guise of Mount Holly Springs said Arthur Guise, his son, did two tours in Iraq during his time in the Army.

"I think that affected him," Guise said. "He was going to some counseling to help. He saw a lot in Iraq. It changed him."

County Coroner Pam Gay said Arthur Guise, 31, shot and killed Sharon Williams, 33, of Mount Holly Springs before shooting and killing himself at Flapjacks Pub, on Route 15, just outside Dillsburg.

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http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2015/07/he_saw_a_lot_in_iraq_it_change.html

July 3, 2015

NASCAR will not return to Donald Trump resort

Source: USA Today

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR will not return to the Trump National Doral Miami resort for its postseason award banquets after Donald Trump's comments about Mexican immigrants this week.

NASCAR spokesman David Higdon said the decision was made Friday to hold the sport's Xfinity and Camping World Truck series banquets at another location, as well as the Sprint Cup Series' championship weekend news conference event.

That location has not been determined.

NBC, which is owned by the same company as Xfinity, severed its business relationship with Trump this week and Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis vowed not to attend the banquet if it was held at a Trump property.


Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nascar/2015/07/03/donald-trump-nascar-marcus-lemonis-camping-world-ceo-doral-profit/29674827/

July 3, 2015

Wisconsin man faces federal charges for threatening Obama

A Wisconsin man is in federal custody after making threats against President Obama while he was visiting the Badger State earlier this week.

Brian Dutcher, 55, was charged Thursday with making threats against the president, who was visiting La Crosse to tout a proposal to expand overtime benefits for millions of American workers.

The Tomah, Wis., man allegedly approached a security guard at the La Crosse Public Library on Wednesday and said, "The usurper is here and if I get a chance I'll take him out and I'll take the shot," according to an affidavit written by Secret Service Special Agent Jeffrey Ferris.

That day, Dutcher was interviewed by the Secret Service and confirmed he had made the statement and had made similar statements on Facebook.

Dutcher posted on his Facebook page Tuesday, "That's it! Thursday I will be in La Crosse. Hopefully I will get a clear shot at the pretend president. Killing him is our CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY!"

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http://www.kare11.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/03/wisconsin-man-faces-federal-charges-threatens-obama/29666879/

He's been taking those 'comedians' on Fox and hate radio too seriously….

July 3, 2015

Koch-Backed Group Calls For No More National Parks

Just in time for the Fourth of July — when millions of people across the country will visit America’s national parks and other public lands — the Koch brothers are rolling out their latest campaign against these treasured places: pushing for no more national parks.

In an op-ed published in Tuesday’s New York Times, Reed Watson, the executive director at the Koch-backed Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), along with a research associate at the Center, call for no more national parks, citing the backlog in maintenance for existing parks.

“True conservation is taking care of the land and water you already have, not insatiably acquiring more and hoping it manages itself,” the op-ed reads. “Let’s maintain what we’ve already got, so we can protect it properly,” it concludes.

While the authors seem to push for “true conservation” from the federal government, in reality, PERC has a long history of advocating for the privatization of America’s national parks and other public lands, and has significant ties to the Koch brothers and fossil fuel industries.

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http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/07/03/3676816/happy-fourth-no-more-national-parks/

July 3, 2015

Republicans vote to dramatically scale back oversight of lawmakers, other public officials

Legislative Republicans on Thursday passed sweeping changes to the state’s open records law that would dramatically curtail the kind of information available to the public about the work that public officials do.

The proposal blocks the public from reviewing nearly all records created by lawmakers, state and local officials or their aides, including electronic communications and the drafting files of legislation. The language was included in the final version of the state’s 2015-17 budget, which passed the Legislature’s budget committee on a party-line vote late Thursday. The budget bill next goes to the full Assembly and Senate.

“This is the single most sweeping and outrageous affront to Wisconsin’s tradition of open government that I have seen in my quarter-century of involvement with the (Wisconsin) Freedom of Information Council,” council president Bill Lueders said.

One provision creating a broad “legislator disclosure privilege” has no counterpart in any other state, a spokesperson for the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau testified.

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http://m.host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/republicans-seek-to-drastically-diminish-public-scrutiny-of-lawmakers/article_8901f2df-1ec2-5e74-b6ea-4a1f006aacf5.html?mobile_touch=true

July 3, 2015

The Middle East needs Senator Bernie Sanders, not a neoconservative Hillary Clinton

By H.A. GOODMAN


Senator Bernie Sanders is chipping away at Hillary Clinton’s lead in Iowa and New Hampshire. If he wins both the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary, the odds favor Sanders to win the Democratic Nomination in 2016. Perhaps the most important element of Sanders’s surge is the fact that he voted against the Iraq War, while Hillary Clinton voted for the quagmire.

The Middle East needs an American president with the wisdom of Bernie Sanders, not Hillary Clinton, since the current turmoil in the region needs less American military involvement; not a continuation of past mistakes. In addition, Bernie Sanders literally foreshadowed the repercussions of removing Saddam from Iraq. He voiced vehement opposition to sending Americans into a counterinsurgency conflict, despite the fact that 72% of Americans supported the Iraq War in 2003 and the political climate equated war with patriotism.

While Sanders never cared about polls or political expediency, others don’t have this value system. True, Clinton called her vote a “mistake,” however this mistake cost America dearly and destabilized the Middle East. Almost 4,500 Americans were killed in combat in Iraq, over 32,000 Americans were wounded in combat, and close to two-thirds of Americans killed or wounded in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan were the victims of IED blasts. As for the Iraqi death toll from civil war (starting shortly after the fall of Saddam), one estimate states 500,000 Iraqis have died. To put the war in perspective for Iraqis, during George Bush’s last four years in office, there were 19,535 terrorist attacks and from 2003-2010, Iraqis experienced 1,003 suicide bombings. Unspeakable catastrophe, not “mistake,” are the words that should be correlated to Clinton’s Iraq War vote.

In early 2015, when 62% of registered voters supported sending American ground troops to fight ISIL, Senator Sanders stated that Muslim countries should send their own ground troops to fight ISIL, not America. Sanders, unlike Clinton and GOP candidates, has clearly articulated his views on American involvement in the Middle East. In late 2014 on MSNBC’s The Ed Show, Vermont’s Senator called for Arab nations, not the U.S., to fight ISIL and other regional threats

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http://www.jpost.com/Blogs/Political-Analysis-Without-Euphemism-or-Hyperbole/The-Middle-East-Needs-Senator-Bernie-Sanders-Not-a-Neoconservative-Hillary-Clinton-407910