July 27, 2017

"Yes. I know. But I just didn't like Hillary."

From a Facebook friend:

I heard this exact wording from more than a few friends, who bought into the whole, decades-long smearing of her name (but refused to research and recognize it as such). That and "I just don't feel like I can trust her." Blech. Your feelings suck. BTW, if Trump manages to fire Mueller, it will be a long, long battle to get our democracy back. How do you feel about that?

July 15, 2017

Supreme Court rejects former Cheektowaga teacher's religious free speech appeal

A former teacher's religious free speech suit against the Cheektowaga Central School District is over.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently denied Joelle Silver's petition appealing two lower court decisions that dismissed her suit over the removal of religious items from her classroom.

Silver, with the help of the American Freedom Law Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., accused district officials in the 2013 suit of violating her First Amendment rights and acting hostile toward her Christianity when they ordered her to take down posters with religious messages and other items from her classroom. Silver taught biology and anatomy at Cheektowaga High School.

The case began after a Cheektowaga student alerted the Freedom From Religion Foundation to a biblical poster and a drawing of three crosses in Silver’s classroom.

The foundation says the student also reported a guest speaker in Silver’s anatomy class who used Bible passages in his presentation. The group also claims Silver referred to Adam and Eve while talking about the human rib cage.

http://buffalonews.com/2017/07/15/supreme-court-rejects-religious-free-speech-appeal/

July 6, 2017

The first lady of Poland disses Trump.

LOL

July 3, 2017

Trumps Call To Help Charlie Gard Is Both Cynical And Cruel, And Fuck Him...

Today, our president sent out a tweet that was not about women bleeding or him wrassling a news media organization. A tweet meant to make him look like a real nice guy who totally cares about people and whether or not they live or die. A tweet that I would actually say is the most sickening and infuriating thing he has ever tweeted.

<snip>

Charlie Gard, if you are not aware, is a terminally ill 10-month-old in the UK with a rare genetic disorder called mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. As a result of this disease, the child cannot move his arms or legs, nor breathe without help, and is also suffering from extensive brain damage. It’s a tragic, tragic situation and one cannot help but feel for his parents, who want nothing more than to try to save their child.

Doctors, however, say that prolonging treatment would only prolong the child’s suffering — and the courts have sided with them, and have decided to allow the hospital to take Charlie off of life support. His parents have been fighting to bring him to the United States to take some experimental medication, which doctors at the Great Ormond Street hospital (one of the best pediatric hospitals in the world) say would not work. Not only because it’s experimental, but also because it’s only been tried by a very small amount of sufferers, and none with the same faulty gene as Charlie.

So basically, the courts are telling the Gards that they can’t keep their baby on life support or take him to the United States because doing so would be cruel. Because the child would be in pain.

<snip>

The fact that a man who is about to let 32 million Americans (yes, that’s the number he’s calling for, higher even than the 22 million who would have their insurance stolen under the Senate Republicans’ plan) go without health insurance because coming up with a replacement is just TOO HARD, has the gall to grandstand on this particular case is absolutely sickening. Save some kids in America, whydontcha?

This, from a man who has proposed massive cuts to children’s healthcare? Whose plans for Medicaid and health insurance will likely hurt millions of children across the United States? Whose party repeatedly chants “Health Care Is Not A Human Right” like a snide, sadistic mantra? Who is totally A-OK with children growing up in poverty and not having enough to eat because their parents were bankrupted by their own medical bills?

I wonder! If Charlie were an American baby whose parents could not afford his treatment, if Trump would be so eager to help. Because I’m pretty goddamned sure he would not.

more: https://wonkette.com/619783/trumps-call-to-help-charlie-gard-is-both-cynical-and-cruel-and-fuck-him

June 27, 2017

Jill Stein Doesn't Care About Republicans Stealing Your Healthcare

She's far too busy bashing Democrats, attacking the media, and downplaying the investigation into Trump colluding with Russia. Doesn't that sound familiar?

Take a few minutes to look over Jill Stein's Facebook wall and Twitter feed. If this was your primary source of information, you would literally have no idea that Republicans are on the brink of taking healthcare away from 24 million Americans to pay for a one Trillion dollar tax cut for the rich. You would have no idea that Trump is the most corrupt president to ever defile the Oval Office. You definitely wouldn't know that hate speech and hate crimes have spiked across the country. Instead, you'd come away with the impressions that the corporate media is out to get Stein, the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton are the source of all evil in the world, and that this whole silly Russia thing is just a distraction. In other words, Jill Stein sounds an awful lot like Donald Trump without the mental instability.

So far in the month of June, Stein has mentioned Trump about 20 times between retweets and direct comments:

3 tweets about Trump pulling out of the Paris agreement.
1 tweet about selling weapons to the Saudis (but she made sure to mention both parties).
1 tweet about Trump being temporarily blocked on DAPL.

more here: https://thedailybanter.com/2017/06/jill-stein-doesnt-care-about-you/

June 26, 2017

Nikki Haley: I Got Booed At New York City Pride

This divide and conquering has to stop!

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley took to Twitter Sunday to claim that she and her son were heckled as they left a New York City restaurant while the city’s annual Gay Pride Parade was taking place. It was not immediately clear where Haley was dining or what was said to her and her son.

Haley has been one of the most outspoken members of the Trump administration in her role as ambassador to the U.N., but some of her statements while governor of South Carolina have drawn the ire of the LGBT community.

https://twitter.com/nikkihaley/status/879120425162338304


http://www.joemygod.com/2017/06/26/nikki-haley-got-booed-new-york-city-pride/

June 18, 2017

Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke rescinds acceptance of Homeland Security post

lulz...

Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke, Jr. has withdrawn his name from consideration for an assistant secretary position at the Department of Homeland Security, an adviser to Clarke confirmed to The Washington Post on Saturday.

"Late Friday, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke Jr. formally notified Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly that he had rescinded his acceptance of the agency’s offer to join DHS as an assistant secretary," said Craig Peterson, an adviser to Clarke. "Sheriff Clarke is 100 percent committed to the success of President Trump and believes his skills could be better utilized to promote the president’s agenda in a more aggressive role."

Clarke was expected to start in a role at DHS at the end of June, but according to one person close to the administration who is familiar with the situation, his appointment had been subject to significant delays that contributed to his withdrawal.

Clarke, a vocal supporter of Trump during the 2016 campaign, is also a controversial figure. He was accused of plagiarism, and has drawn scrutiny for conditions in his jails that left one mentally ill inmate dead.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/06/17/milwaukee-sheriff-david-clarke-rescinds-acceptance-of-homeland-security-post

comment: Was this dude ever a real policeman or was he just elected sheriff and then stole his sister's Brownie badges?

June 13, 2017

What do foreigners admire about the American healthcare system?

What do foreigners admire about the American healthcare system? What part of their healthcare do they wish was more like America’s?


Andrius Saulis, studied at Uppsala University

I admire the US Healthcare System for how much the US government in conjunction with Big Pharma and Insurance Companies have bamboozled its citizens into believing that it’s okay for them to go completely bankrupt if they, for example, break an arm, have their appendicitis suddenly flare up, suffer a heart attack, or have any other type of medical accident/emergency - and don’t happen to have great insurance at the time.

I admire this simply because of the sheer gall, cunning and then conniving scheming that it takes to set this system up and not have the population instantly revolt but instead think that it is completely normal.

That exploitation takes a special kind of evil genius to cook up, which I applaud.

<snip>

Franklin Veaux, Small business owner, sexuality educator, writer

Nothing.

I travel extensively worldwide, I’ve spoken to many non-Americans about the US healthcare system, and it is universally the laughingstock of the world.

Non-Americans who don’t travel to America shake their heads and sigh at the miserable shambles of the American healthcare system. Non-Americans who do travel to America talk about how much they fear needing to use a US emergency room while they’re there. I mean, there are developing countries with a better healthcare system.

<snip>


Sina Taghva, Master's Software Engineering, Paris-Sud 11 University (2018)

I come from Iran. It’s a third world and theocratic country. Yet our healthcare is far superior to US. More than 90% of population are covered by state funded insurance and it covers 70% of the cost of drugs and 90% of public hospital costs. Even without insurance it’s so cheap and effective that people from nearby countries come for complicated surgeries. We even call it health-tourism. Around 30,000 people visit Iran each year to receive medical treatment. Most health tourists were from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iraq, Turkey, Kuwait, Oman, India and Pakistan.

Our GDP per capita is $5,383 which is one tenth of USA. Total expenditure on health per capita is $,1082 and 6.9% of GDP (contrary to $9,403 and 17.1% in US). If your health care is inferior to a third world and economically sanctioned country that spend less than you on health, you have a serious problem because appreanltly all the money you spend goes to either insurance or pharmaceutical companies.

<snip>


Liam Crowleigh, studied Biology & Chemistry

I’m a foreigner and there’s nothing I admire about the American healthcare system.

I’ve spent some time working as part of the American healthcare system and getting training in it and aside from the medical knowledge I received (which wasn’t any different than I could have got in my own country - that I got it in the US was just a matter of where it was convenient at the time) I wouldn’t wish the US system on my worst enemy.

It’s not even a system so much as it’s a free-for all specializing in making money to the detriment of helping people.

American healthcare is great if you’re wealthy. It’s acceptable if you’re upper-middle class with secure employment and no pre-existing conditions. It’s not good if you’re middle class and lower and it’s abysmal if you have a pre-existing condition or don’t have a good job.



more: https://www.quora.com/What-do-foreigners-admire-about-the-American-healthcare-system-What-part-of-their-healthcare-do-they-wish-was-more-like-America%E2%80%99s

June 8, 2017

Woman Who Says She Was Raped By Guard At Sheriff David Clarkes Jail Gets $6.7 Million

The lawsuit also challenged the jail’s practice of shackling women during childbirth.

A federal jury on Wednesday awarded $6.7 million to a woman who says she was repeatedly raped by a corrections officer at the Milwaukee County Jail, a troubled facility run by Sheriff David Clarke, who recently announced plans to join President Donald Trump’s administration.

The woman, who was not named in the complaint, testified earlier this week that a guard, Xavier Thicklen, sexually assaulted her at least five times while she was detained at the jail in 2013.

<snip>

In 2014, prosecutors charged Thicklen with five felony counts of sexual assault for his alleged actions. While he maintained that he hadn’t assaulted the woman, Thicklen ultimately pleaded no contest to one felony count of misconduct in public office as part of a plea agreement that led to the dismissal of the more serious charges.

Though Thicklen had originally faced the possibility of up to 200 years in prison, he was sentenced to three days in jail and ordered to pay a $200 fine. He has since been fired.

The case is the latest stain on the Milwaukee County Jail, which has faced multiple allegations of abuse in recent years under Clarke’s watch. Four people, including a newborn baby, died at the lockup over a period of less than eight months last year. One of them was Terrill Thomas, a mentally ill man who died of severe dehydration after jail employees cut off water to his cell for a week. Thomas’ family has filed a federal suit against the facility for his death, and last month, jurors recommended felony charges against seven staffers.

Clarke has come under fire for allegedly neglecting his administrative duties at the jail and instead focusing on building his profile as a conservative darling perhaps best known for making inflammatory statements on Fox News.


more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/milwaukee-county-jail-sexual-assault_us_59395f12e4b0b13f2c67e035?3wn&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

P.S. - Earlier this month some crazy troll here referred to Clarke as a "patriot"

June 2, 2017

Ivanka Trump Celebrates And Honors The LGBT Community And Twitter Is Just Totally Not Having It

One year ago today President Obama issued his final LGBT Pride Month proclamation, a tradition Donald Trump, as well as all other federal agencies, evidently chose to discontinue.

Tonight, however, Ivanka issued a pair of tweets in which she declares that she is “proud to celebrate and honor the LGBTQ community” and support her “LGBTQ friends and the LGBTQ Americans who have made immense contributions to our society and economy.”

https://twitter.com/IvankaTrump/status/870450297927290882

https://twitter.com/IvankaTrump/status/870450538235785217

https://twitter.com/TracyEGilchrist/status/870465433110953984

https://twitter.com/mrspanstreppon/status/870453240562950145

more: http://www.joemygod.com/2017/06/01/ivanka-trump-celebrates-honors-lgbt-community-twitter-just-totally-not/