Stonepounder
Stonepounder's JournalOne moment's inattention.
So, tonight I'm multitasking. Playing Elder Scrolls Online, watching the news, periodically checking my e-mail, letting the dogs out and in and out and in, yadda, yadda.
I' checking my e-mail and there is a message from Google Photos saying my pictures have been published. Huh? I don't remember posting any pictures that would go through Google Photos. So, I click the blue button that says "View Details".
After I get done kicking myself several times for not checking the sender address or looking at the address that the "View Details" was sending me to, I sit back down and pray that I got stupid for the most incompetent hacker ever. Because the screen I was sent to was one of those that inform me that I have been infected by a virus and to call an 888 number immediately so a 'skilled technician' can walk me through how to disinfect my computer. I discover that I can't close the tab, nor can I switch to another tab. I can, however, just close Chrome, thunk.
Then run a full virus scan, reboot computer and don't get any warnings from MicroSoft or Macafee. My knees begin to regain functionality. And I just hope that my incredible positive energy lasts through next Tuesday and presages a Blue Tidal Wave!
Posted by my sister on Facebook. I think she nailed it.
We had numerous acts of terrorism in our country last week.
Not by people in a caravan.
Not by people from Mexico.
Not by people from Yemen.
Not by people from Iran or Libya or Syria.
Not by Muslems or "illegals".
No, the terrorism came from white nationalists, home grown and radicalized in the United States.
I am terrified at the ugly direction our country has taken.
I have come to the realization that GOP voters are Charlie Brown
and the GOP itself is Lucy.
Every poll of issues shows health care as THE most important issue for voters. Remember when the GOP Congress was gung-ho going to kill The Affordable Health bill? And would have done so, save for John McCain? And Trump was Soooooo pissed?
Now with about 10 days to go to the midterms, the GOP Candidates are shouting to the heavens that THEY are going to make sure that insurance companies MUST cover pre-existing conditions, because the Democrats want to get rid of it. Even as they are parties to suits in several states trying to get the provision to cover pre-existing conditions thrown out!
And voters are buying it, just like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football and Lucy pulling it away at the last second. And Charlie Brown, like GOP voters, never learns that Lucy is lying to him every single time.
<sigh> I guess we will know in just a few days whether the US that we all grew up in will survive or whether we are living through the end of our country. Just saw tonight that Trump's approval rating is up to almost 45%.
Journey of a R to a D. (Found on Facebook)
I am almost 70 years old and have seen many Presidents and politicians come and go. I retired as a High School teacher, and I am a veteran, but I guess other than that, most of my beliefs have been shaped by historical and Sociological references.
I began my political journey as a Conservative Republican. I liked the fiscal responsibility they espoused, and I harbored some anger concerning perceived discrimination as a result of the Civil Rights movement and Title 9 advantages women were being given at the time I graduated from college. Please note, these were perceived discrimination rather than actual in many cases. The Republican Party played into my grievances, and I supported them.
The turning point for me came with Ronald Reagan. With the help of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove, they started the tribalism movement that now engulfs the nation. They used hate to create an “us versus them” mentality that is only growing worse. Reagan single handedly disabled the union movement and convinced his tribe that their taxes should not be used to help individuals unworthy of help. He also energized the cabal of bankers and Wall Street investors along with the top 1% to venture into the political arena in a major way. President Reagan also convinced Americans that private industries always do a better job than government. This is an extremely dangerous principle to sell. Private industry is only interested in profit, not the people they serve. That's why private prisons are failing so badly in this country. They have actually bribed Judges to give extended sentences in order to increase profits. Private security such as Blackwater have been involved in numerous transgressions. Private schools serve only the wealthiest individuals in our society and currently they are attempting to get their hands on government funds. If a public agency is not meeting the needs of the people, we have guarantees in place to correct their deficiencies. We do not have the same oversight on private companies. I think most of us would agree that the U.S. Military creates the finest soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines in the world. Please note that it's government run. If you disagree with that, I'll gladly accompany you to Camp Lejeune were you can express your opinion to the young Marines there.
President George H.W. Bush then pushed through the necessary paperwork to create Fox news and the talk show phenomenon. This created a Propaganda outlet that drew the wealthiest individuals into the political process in a much more overt way. With all this new money, the Republican Party subverted the southern States by using subliminal racism to gain control of their legislative systems. With that control they began to gerrymander their Congressional districts to insure continued control of the State governments and the U.S. House of Representatives. They realized, however, that other methods had to be enacted since they were losing the demographic race. To try and negate this trend, they passed bills that complicated or made difficult minority voting.
To enforce these laws, which were of questionable legality, the Reactionary Republicans needed to ensure the support of the national courts. Sen. McConnell began this procedure by making all of President Obama's judicial appointments difficult by using the 60% rule and stalling his nominations. He also colluded to change the fundamental makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Now we come to the culmination of all those maneuvers. We have Donald Trump as President. He single handedly gutted attempts to attack global warming. He has alienated what has historically been America's closest allies, and he has endangered the effectiveness of NATO. He has started a trade war that many economists warn as extremely dangerous to the American economy. He has convinced Americans to give the wealthiest individuals a huge tax break while convincing them that helping the poor just enables slackers. He has managed to reduce medical care in this country claiming he had a better solution. He just hasn't gotten around to implementing it yet while millions have lost coverage. He has taken credit for programs implemented by President Obama that saved the economy after the disasters created under President George W. Bush. He has boasted about groping and molesting women. His neglect created a human disaster in Puerto Rico. He has allowed Russian interference to sway an american election. He has impugned the reputation of the American intelligence community. He has convinced his followers that any news he doesn't like is “fake news”, and that he is the only reliable source of information that Americans can trust. He is personally profiting from being President, and he is guilty of nepotism.
I could go on. I'm not the brightest bulb on the tree, but I can recognize when I'm being deceived. I taught government for many years, and one of the most important principles was that government was responsible for helping those citizens who could not help themselves adequately. The wealthiest among us do not need help. They will flourish regardless.
I'll wrap this up now. I realize many of you will disagree with me, and that's your right. Like I said, I'm old and not the brightest bulb on the tree.
Anon
Trump Organization files $90,000 lawsuit against estate of man killed in Trump Tower apartment fire
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/18/1805394/-Trump-Organization-files-90-000-lawsuit-against-estate-of-man-killed-in-Trump-Tower-apartment-fire?detail=emaildkreTrump Organization files $90,000 lawsuit against estate of man killed in Trump Tower apartment fire
Trump Organization lawyer Sonja Talesnik has filed a lawsuit against the estate of Todd Brassner, the 67-year-old former art dealer who died after an electrical fire started in his Trump Tower apartment. According to the New York Post, the Trump Organization is seeking “$90,000 in unpaid common charges and fees from a Trump Tower resident.” Brassner’s apartment was not equipped with sprinklers, as Trump himself had spent tons of money lobbying against having to retrofit his towering monstrosity years before.
The legislation was signed into law by Giuliani in 1999, but not before buildings like Trump’s crappy tower were given the loophole of being grandfathered out of the requirement. The rich in our country like to say that dying is too expensive. It’s the reason they claim to want to do away with the inheritance tax. But the real reason is that they want all of that money for themselves, and if you die before them, they want your money too.
My favorite comment from KOS:
I hope the estate’s attorney responds with a $10 million counterclaim for wrongful death. “Negligence” doesn’t have to mean “failing to comply with building codes.” It can include “deliberately failing to install safety measures that were widely available, inexpensive, and strongly recommended for buildings of this type.” That’s how people got judgments against auto manufacturers for not including side-impact airbags, for example, or having bumpers that crumpled in a 5-mph impact.
Until we got this monster in the White House I wouldn't have believed that such evil could actually exist outside some Hollywood writer's fevered brain. And 30% of the population of the US think he's wonderful! In all seriousness, if I were 20 years younger I would have moved to Canada or Belize and found a job there, become a citizen, and left the US behind. The is no longer my country. God help us if the GOP steals the upcoming election. Seems they are well on their way, having already disenfranchised something like 10% of the voters in the US.
Putin Furious at Saudis for Using His Puppet Without Permission (Borowitz)
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/putin-furious-at-saudis-for-using-his-puppet-without-permissionPutin Furious at Saudis for Using His Puppet Without Permission
MOSCOW (The Borowitz Report)—The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, is “absolutely furious” at the Saudi royal family for using his puppet without first obtaining his permission, an aide to Putin confirmed on Wednesday.
According to the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Russian President has been “seething with anger” in recent days as he has observed the Saudis using his favorite puppet as if it were their own.
“At one point, Putin was watching the news and saw his puppet behaving in the kind of scraping, subservient manner toward the Saudis that he had previously reserved for him,” the aide said. “He pulled the TV out of the wall and hurled it across the room.”
According to diplomatic sources, the Saudis have reached out to Russia in the hopes of striking some sort of puppet-sharing agreement, but the enraged Russian President has refused to entertain such overtures. “He’s my tiny puppet, and only I can make him dance,” Putin reportedly snapped.
Heard on Steven Colbert tonight
True:
Reporter to Trump: Do you feel it was appropriate for the President to refer to someone as a "Horseface"?
Trump: Take it any way your want.
Colbert: It is true that every single winner of the Kentucky Derby was a Horseface ... and they all had a little tiny man atop them!
Was Gary Hart Set Up?
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/was-gary-hart-set-up/570802/What are we to make of the deathbed confession of the political operative Lee Atwater, newly revealed, that he staged the events that brought down the Democratic candidate in 1987?
In the spring of 1990, after he had helped the first George Bush reach the presidency, the political consultant Lee Atwater learned that he was dying. Atwater, who had just turned 39 and was the head of the Republican National Committee, had suffered a seizure while at a political fund-raising breakfast and had been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. In a year he was dead.
Atwater put some of that year to use making amends. Throughout his meteoric political rise he had been known for both his effectiveness and his brutality. In South Carolina, where he grew up, he helped defeat a congressional candidate who had openly discussed his teenage struggles with depression by telling reporters that the man had once been “hooked up to jumper cables.” As the campaign manager for then–Vice President George H. W. Bush in 1988, when he defeated Michael Dukakis in the general election, Atwater leveraged the issue of race—a specialty for him—by means of the infamous “Willie Horton” TV ad. The explicit message of the commercial was that, as governor of Massachusetts, Dukakis had been soft on crime by offering furloughs to convicted murderers; Horton ran away while on furlough and then committed new felonies, including rape. The implicit message was the menace posed by hulking, scowling black men—like the Willie Horton who was shown in the commercial.
In the last year of his life, Atwater publicly apologized for tactics like these. He told Tom Turnipseed, the object of his “jumper cables” attack, that he viewed the episode as “one of the low points” of his career. He apologized to Dukakis for the “naked cruelty” of the Willie Horton ad.
And in a private act of repentance that has remained private for nearly three decades, he told Raymond Strother that he was sorry for how he had torpedoed Gary Hart’s chances of becoming president.
According to the article, the entire 'affair' that caused Gary Hart to withdraw from the Presidential race and, basically, allowed George H. W. Bush to win the election, was a hit job on Hart who, in reality, wasn't having any sort of affair. Think about how different if a Democrat had won the 1987 election and become the 41st President instead of Bush.
It a long article but an interesting read for those of us old enough to remember the Hart fiasco and doesn't appear to be behind a paywall.
Article was discussed on Rachael Maddow this evening as well 10/17, so if you don't want to read the entire article go find the show and listen to her explain it all. She has the author of the article on the show with her.
Three Women Hailed As Heroes For Stopping Alleged Date Rape
Three Women Hailed As Heroes For Stopping Alleged Date RapeFriends Sonia, Marla and Monica were out for a drink at a nice restaurant in Santa Monica, California when they saw something that was “no joking matter”. Monica noticed a man at another table holding a vial and dropping some liquid into his date’s drink when she had gotten up to go to the bathroom.
The women were stunned. “After a few ‘Oh god. What do we do’s’, I got up to find her in the bathroom to tell her,” Sonia explained on Facebook. “Warn her. Tell her to get up and leave this creep. Make him drink it. Something.”
She decided to follow the woman and approach her in the washroom. She told her what her girlfriend had seen and the woman was stunned. When Sonia asked the woman how well she knew the man, she responded, “He’s one of my best friends”.
Sonia rushed back to her two friends and Marla alerted a staff member. Staff security immediately acted and reviewed the security camera footage.
Read more at http://www.reshareworthy.com/three-women-stop-alleged-date-rape/#bZvzHoZhMK0xOViw.99
Cops are beginning to get the idea that someone somewhere will almost always have a cell phone to film what they do. Maybe POS men in general will start getting the hint that women aren't going to take this kind of shit any more either. Kudos to the three women who saw something, said something and kudos to the restaurant staff for taking the women seriously and responding appropriately.
Talk about getting your dream job and being in the right place at the right time.
https://www.honoraryunsubscribe.com/geoff-emerick/?awt_l=6sNVI&awt_m=IhQkakMaMCAPkrFrom "This is True - Honorary Unsubscribe"
Knowing Emerick was fascinated by records (ever since finding his grandmother’s stack of Gramophone disks when he was 6), a schoolteacher told him about a job opening at a nearby recording studio. The boy — he was just 15 — jumped on it, and got the job. On his second day at work, a virtually unknown band that just got a new drummer came in to record their first release, and Emerick got to sit in to learn the job. The year: 1962. The new drummer: Ringo Starr. The band: The Beatles. And the song: “Love Me Do” — which was a smash hit that helped launch the group to stardom. Oh, and the North London studio? EMI, which is now known as the Abbey Road Studios. In spring 1966, Beatles producer George Martin requested Emerick be the band’s lead engineer, starting with the album Revolver.
To get the sound the band wanted, Emerick at times had to break EMI’s “rules” — like daring to close-mic Starr’s drums. When not working with The Beatles, Emerick recorded other artists, including Manfred Mann, Cheap Trick, and Supertramp. In 1969, Paul McCartney hired Emerick away from EMI to be the lead engineer for Apple Corps, and supervise the building of the company’s own Apple Studio. Once The Beatles broke up, Emerick continued as McCartney’s engineer. Emerick received four Grammy Awards: for his engineering work on the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road albums and on McCartney’s Band on the Run, and a Technical Achievement Award given to those who have “dramatically pushed the boundaries” of the field. Emerick “and George Martin could sit and not say anything throughout a whole session and people would think they were very weird,” McCartney once said. “It was just that they read each other. It was the same thing with me and John.” McCartney said Emerick “was smart, fun-loving, and the genius behind many of the great sounds on our records.” He died October 2 at his California home from a heart attack, at 72.
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