Stonepounder
Stonepounder's JournalFound on Facebook: "Watch how a republic dies"
"In my life, I have watched John Kennedy talk on television about missiles in Cuba. I saw Lyndon Johnson look Richard Russell squarely in the eye and and say, "And we shall overcome." I saw Richard Nixon resign and Gerald Ford tell the Congress that our long national nightmare was over. I saw Jimmy Carter talk about malaise and Ronald Reagan talk about a shining city on a hill. I saw George H.W. Bush deliver the eulogy for the Soviet bloc, and Bill Clinton comfort the survivors of Timothy McVeigh's madness in Oklahoma City. I saw George W. Bush struggle to make sense of it all on September 11, 2001, and I saw Barack Obama sing 'Amazing Grace' in the wounded sanctuary of Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
"These were the presidents of my lifetime. These were not perfect men. They were not perfect presidents, god knows. Not one of them was that. But they approached the job, and they took to the podium, with all the gravitas they could muster as appropriate to the job. They tried, at least, to reach for something in the presidency that was beyond their grasp as ordinary human beings. They were not all ennobled by the attempt, but they tried nonetheless.
"And comes now this hopeless, vicious buffoon, and the audience of equally hopeless and vicious buffoons who laughed and cheered when he made sport of a woman whose lasting memory of the trauma she suffered is the laughter of the perpetrators. Now he comes, a man swathed in scandal, with no interest beyond what he can put in his pocket and what he can put over on a universe of suckers, and he does something like this while occupying an office that we gave him, and while endowed with a public trust that he dishonors every day he wakes up in the White House.
"The scion of a multigenerational criminal enterprise, the parameters of which we are only now beginning to comprehend. A vessel for all the worst elements of the American condition. And a cheap, soulless bully besides. We never have had such a cheap counterfeit of a president* as currently occupies the office. We never have had a president* so completely deserving of scorn and yet so small in the office that it almost seems a waste of time and energy to summon up the requisite contempt.
"Watch how a republic dies in the empty eyes of an empty man who feels nothing but his own imaginary greatness, and who cannot find in himself the decency simply to shut up even when it is in his best interest to do so. Presidents don't have to be heroes to be good presidents. They just have to realize that their humanity is our common humanity, and that their political commonwealth is our political commonwealth, too.
Watch him behind the seal of the President of the United States. Isn't he a funny man? Isn't what happened to that lady hilarious? Watch the assembled morons cheer. This is the only story now."
- Charles Pierce
-Posted by a friend, reposted by permission.
Mayor Pete's answer about being in the military.
Found this on Facebook with the notation "please feel free to copy or share":
Pete Buttigieg got this question from CNN's Jake Tapper: "If elected President, you would have the most military experience of a commander-in-chief since George H.W. Bush, who fought in WWII. Barack Obama didn't have any military experience. Does it matter? It's certainly an important part of your biography, and we honor it, but does it matter as a part of your resume for President that you serve?"
Pete: "I think so. I don't mean to say that you have to have served in the military to be eligible to run, but I do think that it brings a lot of perspective. First of all, again, you can never lose touch with why politics matters, with why it matters who's sitting at that desk. When you have had the experience of writing a letter and then putting it in an envelope marked 'just in case', and putting it where you know your family can find it, and packing your bags and leaving, you have a sense of the gravity and the weight of the decisions that are made in the White House. But there's something else about serving that I think the generation of George HW Bush and JFK experienced, which is that it brings you together with other Americans. When I got into the vehicle - a big part of my job was just driving and guarding vehicles on movements around Kabul, or occasionally between Kabul and Bagram. You know, when somebody got in my car, my vehicle, they didn't care whether I was a Republican or a Democrat, they didn't care if I was going home to a girlfriend or a boyfriend. They wanted to know if I was doing my job well and if I could keep them safe, and we learned to trust each other with our lives, even though our politics and our lives back home were so different. And I think we need to get back to that. It shouldn't require going to war to get that. But one reason I'm a big believer in expanding opportunities for national service is that we need more common experiences, in this world that's divvied up into Twittersphere bubbles and ideological echo chambers, we need more of those experiences that can bring us together even when we have nothing in common except the fact that we're American."
For those of you interested watching nice pet stories on Netflix.
Stumbled across a 1 Season series call "Save Our Shelter". Is sponsored by PetSmart Charities and with an assist from Bissel. Two guys going around the country to privately run animal shelters and giving them a makeover to make them look more professional.
Nothing extra special except for videos of people running shelters out of their homes (usually) who dedicate a huge amount to their time trying to save dogs and cats and then trying to find them forever homes. Just nice stories. No commercials per se, but you will hear that PetSmart Charities is sponsoring the show and putting up funds for the rehabs.
Watching a few episodes on a lazy afternoon is a feel good, relaxing way to spend some time.
Trump Considering Pulling U.S. Out of Constitution (Borowitz satire - or maybe not)
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-considering-pulling-us-out-of-constitutionTrump Considering Pulling U.S. Out of Constitution
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Calling it “maybe the worst deal ever,” Donald J. Trump said on Wednesday that he is considering pulling the United States out of the United States Constitution.
“I’ve seen a lot of bad deals in my life, but this Constitution is a total mess,” he said. “We need to tear it up and start over.”
Trump was scathing in his remarks about the two-hundred-and-twenty-nine-year-old document, singling out for special scorn its insistence on three branches of government. “The branches thing is maybe the worst part of this deal,” he said. “The first thing we do when we pull out of the Constitution is get rid of two of those branches.”
He also called the First Amendment “something that really has to go.” “No one in his right mind would put something like that in a Constitution,” he said. “Russia doesn’t have it. North Korea doesn’t have it. All the best countries don’t have it.”
........
This was an unusually long Borowitz. There are two more full paragraphs at the link.
Trump just gave a huge gift to an alleged billion dollar Medicare fraudster
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-obamacare-medicare-fraud-4910319d89ed/Trump just gave a huge gift to an alleged billion dollar Medicare fraudster
The Trump administration informed a federal appeals court on Monday night that it would no longer defend the Affordable Care Act after a judge in Texas declared that the entire law must be struck down. The judge, Reed O’Connor, is a former Republican Senate staffer with a history of striking down policies opposed by conservatives. O’Connor’s opinion is widely viewed as ridiculous, even by conservative legal scholars and health policy experts.
Yet, while O’Connor’s opinion in Texas v. United States is likely to be reversed, either by the conservative United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit or by the Supreme Court, the Justice Department’s claim that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional already threatens a seemingly unrelated prosecution of a Florida health care executive on trial for allegedly committing $1 billion worth of Medicare and Medicaid fraud.
[The person on trial is Philip Esforme]
On Wednesday, Esformes’ lawyers filed a motion in a federal court in Florida arguing that the case against their client must be dismissed — effectively ruining three years of work by prosecutors — because “the Justice Department has admitted that the health care offenses at issue in this trial are unconstitutional.” Alternatively, Esformes’ legal team suggests that the judge should declare a mistrial.
The problem arises because O’Connor did not simply strike down the core provisions of the Affordable Care Act. He declared that every single provision of the law is invalid, including relatively minor provisions amending the statutes governing Medicare fraud and kickbacks paid to health providers. Though Esformes alleged actions may also be illegal under the unamended versions of those statutes, Esformes was charged under the amended versions. According to Esformes’ motion, “every health care statute cited in the Indictment has been identified as among those ruled unconstitutional” by Judge O’Connor.
The crux of Esformes’ legal argument is that “the Due Process Clause will not permit the Justice Department to prosecute the Defendant based upon alleged violations of statutes and regulations that they have independently deemed and declared to be unconstitutional.” It’s an aggressive argument. Nevertheless, it’s an argument that puts the Justice Department in a terrible bind.
Note: If the motion succeeds, then not only would Esforme be released and not retried when/if O'Connor's ruling is reversed, but any other person being tried for Medicare fraud can probably try for a dismissal, as can prisoners who were convicted under the same statutes.
Thanks, Donnie!
Even if you never watch Grey's Anatomy,
do yourself a favor and watch episode 'S15 E19 Silent All These Years'. An extremely powerful story, dealing with the reality of sexual assault. Well worth your 40-odd minutes. And what victims go through after the fact.
ABC wanted to tone it down a bit, but the writer(s?) refused and insisted it be shown as written. ABC finally backed down. We watched it on HULU, but the original ABC broadcast came with a warning that it was intense and anyone who had been a victim might want to watch with a friend.
Men, make yourself watch as well. See and hear what women actually go through (there is no violence shown, only the after effects). And, as a final note, without giving you a spoiler, one of the last scenes has women lining a hospital corridor. According to ABC, everyone lining the corridor was either an actor or an ABC employee who wanted to be part of the scene.
Well worth 45 minutes or so of your life.
------
Footnote: I don't think I have ever recommended a TV show on a forum like this and it will probably be a very long time before I do so again. This was one powerful show. I have never been sexually assaulted and don't know anyone who has admitted to me that they have. And the story still knocked me out. TV at its finest.
William Barr Reads "Moby-Dick," Finds No Evidence of Whales (Borowitz)
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/william-barr-reads-moby-dick-finds-no-evidence-of-whales?utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Borowitz_032619&utm_medium=email&bxid=5bd672883f92a41245dd6fd1&user_id=27161810&esrc=&utm_term=TNY_BorowitzWilliam Barr Reads “Moby-Dick,” Finds No Evidence of Whales
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Attorney General William Barr has just read the classic American novel “Moby-Dick,” by Herman Melville, and found that the book contains “no evidence whatsoever of whales,” Barr stated on Tuesday.
The Attorney General issued his statement on the absence of whales in the Melville classic in a two-paragraph book report released to the news media. “Those who read ‘Moby-Dick’ looking for whales will be sorely disappointed,” Barr wrote. “There are no whales here.”
To illustrate his point, Barr quoted the book’s first sentence: “Call me Ishmael.” “As you can clearly see, that sentence does not have a whale in it,” Barr wrote. The Attorney General indicated that he hoped his report would put an end to “reckless speculation” about the existence of whales in “Moby-Dick.” “It’s time to move on,” he wrote.
Barr disclosed that, after waiting years to read “Moby-Dick,” he was able to finish reading it in approximately fifteen minutes.
Stranger gifts car to struggling nursing student who works 2 jobs
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Living/stranger-gifts-car-struggling-nursing-student-works-jobs/story?id=61759770When 22-year-old Kayla Cooper walked out of car dealership in tears, little did she know a good Samaritan was about to help her. Cooper, a nursing student at San Diego City College, was at Auto City in El Cajon, California, when she realized that she didn't have enough money for a down payment to buy a used car.
Dan Laguardia, a dad of four from San Diego, was also at the dealership that day and overheard Cooper's story. Laguardia was buying a new car for himself and planned to trade in the old one.
Laguardia learned that Cooper, who had been driving a loner car, couldn't afford a down payment to purchase her own. When she's not attending nursing school, Cooper works two part-time jobs -- as a cashier at 7-Eleven and a lot enforcer at Ace Parking in San Diego.
After Cooper left the dealership, Laguardia asked the salesperson to call and ask her to come back. Cooper returned 10 minutes later and Laguardia offered her his 2005 Scion, which he intended on trading in, for nothing.
Full story with pics at link.
While riding my Harley,
I swerved to avoid hitting a dog, lost control and landed in a ditch, severely banging my head.
Dazed and confused I crawled out of the ditch to the edge of the road when a shiny new convertible pulled up with a very beautiful woman who asked, "Are you okay?"
As I looked up, I noticed she was long and lean, she could have been a model.
"I'm okay I think," I replied as I pulled myself up to the side of the car to get a closer look.
She said, “Get in and I’ll take you home so I can clean and bandage that nasty scrape on your head.”
"That's nice of you," I answered, "but I don't think my wife will like me doing that!"
"Oh, come now, I’m a nurse," she insisted. "I need to see if you have any more scrapes and then treat them properly."
Well, she was really pretty and very persuasive. Being sort of shaken and weak, I agreed, but repeated, "I'm sure my wife won't like this."
We arrived at her place which was just few miles away and, after a couple of cold beers and the bandaging, I thanked her and said, "I feel a lot better but I know my wife is going to be really upset so I'd better go now."
"Don't be silly!" she said with a smile. "Stay for a while. I don't mind. By the way, where is she?"
"Still in the ditch with the Harley, I guess."
Poarch Creek tribe will cover the cost for all 23 funerals of Alabama tornado victims
https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2019/03/08/alabama-tornado-poarch-creek-tribe-pay-23-funerals-beauregard-lee-county/3102718002/Poarch Creek tribe will cover the cost for all 23 funerals of Alabama tornado victims
After tornadoes swept through Alabama killing 23 people, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians reached out to see how they could help.
After talking to Lee County Coroner Bill Harris, they agreed to donate $50,000 to help with the funerals. Then they called back. They wanted to know how much it would cost to cover funerals for all 23 victims.
“… I gave them a figure and they graciously made it happen,” Harris said in a statement.
In the end, the Poarch Band agreed to donate $184,000. Harris said that money will be deposited with the East Alabama Medical Center Foundation to be dispersed to the funeral homes.
Note: There are 36 Mega-Churches in Alabama. None of them pitched in. However, the Wind Creek Casino kicked in a 5-digit donation to the tribe to help reach the required figure.
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Member since: Sun Jun 27, 2010, 10:05 PMNumber of posts: 4,033
